Why I am Voting Leave

These are my personal reasons, in defense of what I believe and my right to make my choice. I thought I would share on Mumsnet in case it helps anyone else.

My right to choose who to vote for

I am devastated by the death of Jo Cox. She sounds like she was the gold standard of politician and someone I would have voted for and supported passionately if I was in her constituency. Her murder was a terrible crime but it should not stop people exercising their right to vote for what they choose and believe in. I believe in my right to democracy (I am sure Jo Cox did too) and I will not be stopped from voting for something I believe in because a man with a gun did something terrible. I will NOT let her murderer decide the future of the country.

Sovereignty and Democracy

This is my major problem with the EU and my number one reason for wanting to leave. I believe in our democracy – the one we have had for hundreds of years – where each of us has one vote for our local member of parliament who represents us there. If we don’t like what they do, then we can vote for someone else at the next election. Parliament makes our laws. It is simple, but effective. The European Union system is firstly too complicated; there are too many parts and too many people being appointed to make decisions, and too few opportunities to object or to change things. I feel no connection to this organisation – firstly because my MEP represents so many thousands of peoples I have virtually no say and secondly because I don’t feel my MEP has much of a say either. The more people you are trying to represent and the less say you have, then the less each person is represented. Whilst in this country, we have political parties, the EU has groups which can include a large range of opinions so you never really know who you are voting for.

The countries of mainland Europe have a completely different culture to us. Norman Tebbit explains the EU like this:
“They [The EU] all took the view the law defined what they were permitted to do. What was not permitted, they regarded as forbidden. For them freedom of speech was granted by law, but limited to what had been granted.
To us here in Britain all speech is free – unless there is a law to limit it. Alarmingly, our legislation in recent years has been implementing that European, Napoleonic view of society.
Bit by bit I came to see that our structure of government, largely built on the limitations placed on the Monarch by Magna Carta, was simply not understood by our fellow Europeans from the mainland, nor was it compatible with the continental approach. We are free to do as we will – provided only that there is no law to prohibit it.”
So there are fundamental differences between us- we are free to do anything unless there is a law to prevent it, in Europe you cannot do anything unless there is a law allowing you to do it.

I believe that this country can stand by itself. I believe in our democracy and our people. The UK doesn’t need to be one of the most powerful countries in the world. I don’t care if we have a say at the big table or not. I care about the people of this country and our rights as the people of this country to choose our own laws and decide our own fate. I believe in our ability to govern ourselves and I do not believe that leaving the EU means we will no longer have any rights as workers or women. We can still make sure products are safe and the welfare conditions of our animals will continue at their same high standard. If the government tries to change any of that, we get to vote for them every five years.

Trade

The more locally I/ we can trade the better in my opinion. I believe in local business and as such I’d rather trade with, and would rather businesses in this country trade with, local businesses or at least ones in Britain. All the arguments for buying locally can be extended to buying within the UK.
I am in support of local trade because I want the local economy to be sustainable and I want to support local jobs and businesses. By buying locally, the money I spend is more likely to stay in the local economy and support the local area creating jobs and communities around them. Buying locally is better for the environment as the products have had to travel less distances to get to me. Smaller, more distinctive businesses are more likely to be local – I would rather have uniqueness than buy a generic product that I could have bought anywhere and the local businesses have knowledge of the local area and can produce products and services that are locally relevant.
Yes, I understand that buying locally can cost more. However, I think the extra money is worth it. I believe people and communities are more important than companies being able to make as much money as possible. I do not believe that a race to the bottom on prices is the way that we should want the world to go either.

Immigration

I think that companies should try and source their workforce from the local community if possible. If they cannot do this, then why should their labour force be limited to people from the EU. What if there is someone from India or Mexico who is more qualified for the job than someone from Germany – wouldn’t it be better to employ them? At the moment, because there are such large numbers coming to the UK from the EU (or more accurately, because there is a perception that there are large numbers coming from the EU) the Government is trying to limit immigration and the only way they can do this is by stopping people from coming to work here from the rest of the world. I think this is wrong. I also wonder if it is damaging.
Worst of all, because there are such large numbers coming to the UK from the EU (or more accurately, because there is a perception that there are large numbers coming from the EU), I think this is making the country less likely to accept refugees who really need somewhere to go and who I wish we could help. They are the ones who need to be here.

Defence

Should we vote to leave the EU, we won’t suddenly stop sharing information with other countries or them with us. We will still tell France if we hear about a terrorist plot in their countries and I am sure that they would do the same for us. Also, terrorists don’t care if we are in the EU or not.

Racism and Personalities

Wanting to leave the UK does not make me a racist, despite what Facebook post and media stories tell you about everyone voting leave. Voting to leave does not mean I support Nigel Farage (I hate and despise him and his racist posters) or Michael Gove (who I also hate for reasons not connected to this debate). I do not want Boris Johnson or David Cameron to be the Prime Minister and that is not what I am voting for (or against) – this vote is purely a vote on whether or not we should leave or remain in the EU. I am not deciding my vote based on what anyone else thinks – not friends, families, those in the media or those with vested interests – although I have listened to everyone’s views. I have read everything I can from both sides of the argument and made up my mind on what is important to me.

A Vote to Remain IS NOT A VOTE FOR NO CHANGE

The European Union has a stated aim of “Ever Closer Union”. I think they recently voted for all people in Europe to have a European Tax Identification Number, and I believe this is so tax can be unified across Europe. Germany has also just put forward a white paper calling for a European Army. We came very, very close to joining the Euro fairly recently and, although it is off the cards for now, I am not convinced it is forever, after all as they said before being able to trade using a single currency would help our ‘economy’. The EU is forever changing because it is integrating all the countries. It may sound like scaremongering and I might be worried unnecessarily, but I do not want to be a part of the United States of Europe. I do not trust any government to give us another referendum on the hazy term of “major transfer of power” – there is nothing to stop a major change to happen through the back door by lots and lots of minor changes which we don’t get to vote upon. And, even if we got another referendum, the further integrated we become the harder and more damaging it will be to leave.

On Thursday, I will vote to leave.

Talk

Brexit

Why I am Voting Leave