to still have no clue which way to vote on Thursday?

[DowntonIsMyHome]

I've looked at the BBC referendum check thing to try to get through the spin but it hasn't helped much

I'm a single parent at uni doing a post grad that will end next year, then I will qualify. I have a council house and barely made ends meet before quitting work to do the course

not sure if any of that means I should lean towards in or out but my whole family are 'out', citing life as 'better' before the EU and immigration as their reasons (I don't have the same view re immigration as they do, though)

argh.... the deadline is hurtling towards me and I ain't got a clue!

Given that none of the leaders of the major parties supports Brexit, who are we hoping is going to negotiate a favourable exit?

Excellent point Gin!

Do people really think that Boris (or anyone else) would be able to secure a better deal for us once Brexit is a fact, than DC was when there was still a chance we could be persuaded to stay???

IF the the will of the.....people vote for Brexit, then its the governments job to act on our behalf.

Once we have said we want to cut ties, we the people can demand and protest and....vote the government out.

I guess election pledges would then be a race to who can offer the best deal for us - in trade etc.

Back in January the FT polled 100 leading economists for their views (overall pretty unequivocal):

www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1a86ab36-afbe-11e5-b955-1a1d298b6250.html#axzz4CJV7Pa1X

And the same goes for agreements with all those other countries around the world that we're supposed to turn to instead of the EU! Not one Commonwealth country has said that it would be good for the UK to leave Europe, instead most have strongly recommended that we stay in.

This article from the Independent illustrates why Brexit would make the UK a much less attractive trade partner for Commonwealth countries than it is now. The UK's huge strength lies in the fact that it's an English-speaking country that offers a way in to the single European market. This is similar to the way that foreign banks (Swiss! Hong Kong! etc etc) are attracted to London as a way of accessing the single market, and would leave following Brexit (together with large portions of UK banks).

Following Brexit, the article argues, Ireland would take over as the most attractive place to invest in Europe, as the only English-speaking "front door" to the entire continent.

Iamslave sure, it would be the politicians' job to negotiate the best possible deal for us. They'd be playing with pretty rubbish cards though, no matter who it was.

Katie Hopkins says you should vote Leave to "get Britain back" (from where/who exactly she's not clear about).

if that isn't enough to convince you to vote Remain, I don't know what will.

I agree most a lot of the exit people aren't people I'd want to be associated with.

Babysafari that is very tolerant view you have. So you wouldn't want to be associated with around half the population. And it's those who support Leave who are accused of being intolerant and small-minded

Holly that was only supposed to be tongue in cheek after someone mentioned Katie Hopkins.

OK Babysafari my apologies, I thought you meant most exit supporters throughout the UK.

Actually reading what I wrote it wasn't well worded or clear, but it was supposed to be in response to Katie Hopkins.

I'm still undecided and I think like with most things there are pros and cons to both.

I entirely see why brexit voters feel the way they do, but on balance I agree with Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert and will vote remain for a safer snd bettet future for me and my children.

I am voting remain - I don't want Cameron & that lot dictating everything, at least we have the EU to help protect us - an no I am not a labour supporter, I would always vote conservative but on this I feel like we are more vulnerable leaving than staying, Boris is a complete nutter, as is Farage, so to have them trying to lay the law down worries me

Just skim reading the link www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2667752-Brexit-Facts-Not-Fear? Slingcrump posted recommended in answer to the Toby Young's video
A quote from Photosythesis response on that thread
Taxation without representation There is no direct eu taxation. Regarding indirect taxation there is harmonisation of VAT rates to avoid market distortions in the internal market
There are plans on closer tax unity within the EU - this is a link to TINs -which are EU wide tax reference no.s.
www.eubusiness.com/topics/finance/tax-code-tin/?searchterm=None
In principle - fine it is to stop fraud and tax avoidance ...but on the other hand this could be relevant...

order-order.com/2016/05/25/eu-plots-europe-wide-tax-id-numbers/
So currently there is no direct EU taxation ...but there are changes happening which make it more feasible that there could be in the future.
Which is the problem with voting remain if you don't want change.
The same with an EU army - we don't have one and no firm plans for one but people can see the groundwork being put into place ...it has been discussed.
And there is no escaping the democratic deficit - to quote Jeremy Corbyn taken from www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/20/we-should-stay-in-eu-and-improve-it-says-jeremy-corbyn
If we remain, I believe Europe has got to change quite dramatically to something much more democratic, much more accountable
The EU has to change has been said repeatedly... for years - it hasn't - I think we have to force change...I think the only way to do that is by voting leave.

I am getting really nervous about the result, as a Brit living in another EU country (where DP is from) and whose long term future is likely to involve both countries - definitely want to spend some time living in the UK again, but as for retirement it could be either place, no idea yet.

It can only be a good thing for me for the UK to remain in the EU. If the vote is Brexit my heart sinks at the thought of the uncertainty and inevitable bureaucracy that is going to enter my life in the short and long term...

I have never been so stressed about a vote result before!

Remain is the safer option to me, and I am one who would very much choose the devil I know as opposed to the devil I don't.

The Brexit lot have no coherent plan for what happens if they win. I wouldn't trust BoJo, Gove and Farage to organise a piss-up in a brewery, never mind seal up these hypothetical worldwide trade deals that apparently beckon if we leave Europe.

I seem to live in a generally Brexit area, which is depressing, though it may just be that they are more vocal.

I have heard people harking back to the pre-EU days of the 1950s and 1960s, and also some to the days of Empire. Not relevant to today at all, and cloud cuckoo land.

Remain. Joey Essex helped me decide. I think he did a great job interviweing it was simplicity of it all.

The EU has to change has been said repeatedly... for years - it hasn't - I think we have to force change...I think the only way to do that is by voting leave.

^^ I agree and the Toby young Facts is also very interesting

"I recently helped put together an anthology of material than appeared in the magazine in the run up to the first European referendum in 1975. The Spectator was one of only two publications to campaign for a Leave vote at the time, the other being the Morning Star"

In the official government pamphlet urging us to vote ‘Yes’ in 1975, the British people were given a guarantee that no law could be imposed on them without the consent of their elected representatives.

That ‘veto’ turned out to be a figment of the government’s imagination.

The 1975 government pamphlet urging us to vote ‘Yes’ tried to gloss over this inconvenient fact by using the weasel word ‘important’ – ‘No important new policy can be decided in Brussels’. But each time more countries join the European Union and another treaty is passed – each one bringing us closer to a United States of Europe – the number of laws deemed ‘important’ enough to require a unanimous vote gets smaller and smaller.

^^ There is a higher goal here people and you are being paid off with a few crumbs.

i'd say look at who stands for brexit and think if you would trust them. So that is Farage, Gove (wasn't he hated when in charge of education?), Boris, other hardline Tories, Putin and Trump.

I wouldn't be so sure that these people would try to improve the nhs, care for workers rights (aka red tape), any other kind of social benefit. They are hard line capitalists (putin excluded but only up to a certain point, he just wants a weakened uk as uk and russia are not exactly best pals) and are more concerned about business and take the rest as 'collateral damages'. Surely European countries have more socially protective laws and regulations then anglo saxon societies?

I would vote brexit only if I was a wealthy English business man.

I would vote brexit only if I was a wealthy English business man.

Then like many others you really don't understand the reasons why what could be nearly half the country are voting the way they are.

unlucky83 IamslavetotheEU

On tax it seems pretty clear that the EU has been acting as a focal point for European Govs to work on corporate tax "avoidance". Exactly the issues that the UK decided to unilaterally address re: Google and Starbucks!

The point is, that without the EU providing a standard set of minimum rules which all 28 Member States have to observe, we would not be able to sustain our unilateral taxation policy. (All the key companies would otherwise move to Ireland, Luxembourg or other "on shore" tax havens). This is a classic reason for staying in the EU because it enables us to do more of what we want to do.

Thinking back to 1975, it was the UK who realised that without majority voting, it would not be possible to create the single market from which we now benefit. So the UK (Mrs T) took a calculated and cold-hearted decision to achieve the objectives of the single market through majority voting.

Without this pressure, the other Member States would still be dragging their heels and the potential for these other MS to use the single market against the UK (if we choose to leave) is both very real and rather frightening.

Watch power monkeys ten oclock channel 4. It might not help you to decide how to vote (remain!) But it is very funny.