We have enough belief & confidence in the UK to want to Remain IN, no need to run and hide.

Believe in the UK

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Challenge to EU Referendum Act franchise – Appeal Court judgment due on Friday

Update from Leigh Day

Just to let you know that the judgment from the Court of Appeal, in the legal challenge brought on behalf of two British Citizens against the 15 year voting rule, will be handed down on Friday 20 May 2016.

At present this judgment is due at 10:15 however this may change and final listings for the Court are published the day before.

More information on the case so far here: https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/News-2016/May-2016/British-citizens-living-in-EU-granted-leave-to-app

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Working together is the only way of insuring ourselves against the BIG issues we face.

Hand In Hand

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Unity and the EU

jjmarsh

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Next month, the UK votes on whether to leave the European Union. A non-resident for over ten years, perhaps I should keep my trap shut. Or… not.

I live in Switzerland, I read and listen to a broad range of opinion and I care deeply about my continent. And I’m voting to stay.

I believe in unity and how collective power achieves more than the individual. That’s why I think Britain should stick with the EU and effect change from within. My arguments, please note, are based on the positives (well, ok, the last one is arguable). But fear-mongering paranoia merchants should be discounted from the first time they mention ‘The War’.

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Reasons to Vote Stay

Peace

Diplomacy, negotiation and compromise will never make for dramatic Hollywood fodder. It’s hard work and often pretty tedious. However, sitting around a table beats bombing each other into the ground.

“The EU…

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Time marches on and some people stay the same.

There are people in every time and every land who want to stop history in its tracks.

They fear the future, mistrust the present, and invoke the security of the comfortable past which, in fact, never existed

there are those, frustrated by a’difficult future,’ who grab out for the security of the non-existent past. Frustrated by change they condemn the wisdom, the motives, and even the patriotism of those who seek to contend with the realities of the future

Robert.F Kennedy could have been talking about people in the early 21st century in Europe, when he spoke these words. A some of people don’t care how good we have things today, it’s not good enough, and they want to throw it all away on the assumption of the possibility of negligible improvement in very limited areas.

And as he says above these people condemn our wisdom, motives and patriotism because we aren’t willing to accept their point of view to be reasonable, realistic or even possible without careful deliberation and fact checking.

Robert.F Kennedy, speech at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 08/06/1964.

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Madness or Sanity

By Peter Sain ley Berry a member of one of the SY2E – Remain in the EU groups

Is it better to be a big fish in a big pond or a small fish in an ocean?  It is a question often asked.  It is a question that sums up the Brexit debate.  Independent but without Influence, or part of the EU club, enjoying the benefits of the £1800 billion Single Market?

Those favouring Brexit point to the money we should save in contribution fees, the freedom that would come from unravelling all that EU red tape, and of course the ability to deny freedom of movement to those with EU passports.  Those wanting to Remain believe that the contribution fees at less than half a percent of government expenditure are immaterial beside the immense trading benefits we get from being EU members.  They argue that most of those EU regulations would be needed anyway even if we left the EU (are we going to let farmers for instance use any form of pesticide they want?) and that our low productivity service oriented economy demands labour to keep it growing and it is this pull factor that is driving immigration. Closing our borders to EU migrants would not limit the number of people wanting to come here.

But there is a danger that we could end up in a kind of purgatory of some sort of associate relationship, that might be the worse of all worlds.

Most Brexiters acknowledge the importance of the EU’s Single Market but believe (on grounds for which there appears to be no solid evidence other than wishful thinking) that a new trade deal could easily be negotiated to allow us to carry on as before.  Other trade deals could be organised, they say, with other countries. Many favour the so-called ‘Norway’ option whereby we continue to have free access to the Single Market from a position outside the EU.

Yet the Norway option would not allow us to get rid of the regulations about which some complain so much. The regulations are there to protect the Single Market; to ensure that the playing field is level for all and to ensure certain protections for those who live within its compass.  Moreover, the fee we should have to pay to belong to the Norway club would probably not differ greatly from what we are paying now. We should also have to accept the free movement of people that underpins the Single Market.

So what exactly would we be gaining?  We would nominally be independent (whatever that means in today’s highly interconnected world.  We are of course ‘independent’ today: if we weren’t we wouldn’t be having this referendum).  The answer to that is not very much.  But we should be losing a very great deal.  We should be losing all the political clout we now have to influence the EU’s strategy and direction. We should become, in the world’s eyes, a very lowly form of pond life.

The EU is not a government – a fact that many people fail to understand.  It is no more than a collection of 28 countries that have agreed to abide by a set of common rules in order to promote prosperity and a more civilised way of life. Of those 28 countries some are small and some large.  Britain is a large country, the second largest after Germany. Moreover many other countries in the EU admire the British way of doing things and look to Britain for leadership. So we have enormous influence over what the EU does and this we would be throwing away were we ever to leave.

Our international friends and allies cannot understand why we should want to give up the trading advantages that we have now as a member of the EU and forego our influence over how the EU itself develops.  They imagine we have gone soft in the head even to think about doing so.  We are in the grip of a collective madness.

Let’s hope that sanity returns before June 23rd.  Otherwise we may sink below the waters of the pond.

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This is what UK manufacturing will look like according to Brexit economist

A Brexit view of UK manufacturing.png

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What has the EU done for us? It has helped us in the achievement of our individual goals

With thanks to Chris Lyons, a member of one of the SY2E groups.

When anyone starts talking about Europe, they inevitably start from a personal point of view of ‘what has Europe ever done for me?’

For those ex-pats living within the EU, the answer is simple…it has helped the achievement of our individual goals. Whether those goals are work related, securing a comfortable retirement, or, like me, something in between, the ease of which we can move in and around Europe leads to self-development and progression as individuals. I chose a change of life style in 2007 and considered 2 options; Canada or France.

Whilst Canada had some advantages, the ease of emigration to France and the cross border agreements in place, via the EU, for things such as health care, pensions and double taxation treaties really did mean that it was not a difficult choice. Membership of the EU enabled us to buy property with ease, become residents with no paper work, enjoy good and affordable healthcare, set up a small business with little problem and simply concentrate on enjoying our chosen lifestyle within the European family.

I am British, but I am also European. In this time of worldwide uncertainty both in terms of economic and political turmoil, to isolate yourself in the hope that being a smaller fish in a big pond somehow ‘strengthens’ your position is bizarre.

Fragmentation of what is now a powerful Union at this point would only increase the risk of disagreements, fallout’s, and economic uncertainty. Europe has to stand together. In doing so, it can show the world that, notwithstanding our cultural differences, countries that have a mutual understanding and a mutual goal to achieve stability will have a much greater chance of success than those who try to go it alone.

The EU will evolve. The countries within the EU will make sure it succeeds. I hope that Great Britain is part of that success.

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