... And if you're still not sure which way to go here's a
summary of what a few of our local people said at our EU Referendum
debate:
Mary Quicke spoke about a recent report from
the NFU which had found that in only 2 out of 9 possible scenarios
would farmers be better off if we came out of the EU.
If we want completely free trade we should vote to leave, but
for dairy farmers, such as Quickes, the benefits of staying in
outweigh the disadvantages. She pointed out that countries such as
Norway and Switzerland, which aren't in the EU, have to abide by EU
regulations if they want to trade in the EU but they don't have any
say when the regulations are made.
On the issue of immigration she pointed out that farms such as
hers rely on foreign workers to provide their labour and take jobs
that many British people don't want.
Listen
to her talk on our YouTube video - fast forward
to 12:50
Sam Robbins looked at economics. He said
that the net contribution made by the UK was £230 million a week,
after taking off the rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher.
Overall the total amount was only 1% of public
expenditure.
It was difficult to predict what would happen if we came
out of the EU since it depended on which model we went for. One
possible scenario was to go for the World Trade Organisation model
in which case we would not be bound by EU regulations. But it would
be difficult and time consuming to negotiate a good trade deal and
there would be a lot of disruption in the short term and it was
likely that our currency would suffer.
Listen to him talk on our YouTube video - fast forward
to 23:35
David Jaques focused on the issue
of democracy and the loss of sovereignty which resulted from the UK
being part of the EU. EU Commissioners are unelected and yet have a
lot of power. Although there is a Parliament they can only respond
to laws put forward by the Commission and cannot initiate anything.
And EU law has supremacy over UK law.
David said that businesses were concerned about the
amount of regulations coming out of the EU which even firms which
didn't trade with the EU had to abide by. He talked about the
fishing industry which had been devastated by the EU Fisheries
Policy. If we came out of the EU, we could develop our own
fisheries policy which was more in line with local
needs.
Overall his message was that if want democracy and
not dictatorship, we should come out of the EU.
Listen
to him talk on our YouTube video - fast forward
to 35:05
Mike Birkin from Friends of
the Earth talked about the environmental consequences of leaving
the EU. Based on a number of different reports, his conclusion was
that there are clear environmental benefits for staying in the EU
and leaving would be a significant threat.
European legislation is the most robust body
of law protecting the environment, for instance the laws protecting
the most valuable areas for nature across Europe. Since the laws
came in, the rate of loss has dropped from 15% a year to 1%. Whilst
the Common Fisheries policy is widely seen as being a failure, the
majority of stocks are being fished sustainably and populations are
starting to recover.
Listen to him talk on our YouTube video - fast forward
to 46:18
Other local people joined in the debate - hear
what they had to say on our YouTube video - fast forward to 1:00:35
for the audience question time.
Whatever your views, the important thing is that we all
contribute to this important decision.
VOTE NOW!
Best Wishes
Sarah
Chair of Sustainable Crediton