EU Referendum: Webchat with Alan Johnson MP, Tuesday 24 May at 12.30pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re very pleased to announce a webchat with Alan Johnson MP on Tuesday 24 May at 12.30pm. Alan is the Chair of the official ‘Labour In for Britain’ campaign, aiming to persuade voters to keep the UK in the EU.

Alan entered Parliament as Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle in 1997 and filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary, Home Secretary and Education Secretary. He has also published two award-winning memoirs, ‘This Boy’ and ‘Please Mr Postman’.

Please do join the chat on Tuesday, or if you can’t make it, please leave a question here in advance. And do bear in mind the webchat guidelines - one question each only (follow-ups allowed if there’s time) and please do be polite.

The EU referendum will be held on 23 June (and yes, we are doing our utmost to line up some ‘Out’ campaigners for webchats too!)

Thanks
MNHQ

[Janefromdowntheroad]

Hi Alan

Anecdotally both in real life and online there seems to have been a rise in first time voters registering for this vote. People who previously have never had an interest in voting.

There is evidence to show that turnout is lower amongst the working class than any other social class.

Given they are more likely to vote for Brexit why do you think this vote had galvanised them to register for this vote?

[BornFreeButinEUchains]

Can you tell us what the EU will look like in ten years time, with Turkey - and countries like Albania in the club.

Do you feel this will be a beneficial contribution to the UK and its citizens?
How do you think our services, will cope?

Do you think the last Labour government acted in the best interests of its citizens and if so, how can you explain why the poor white male is was at the bottom of the social heap?

[IamAnIAMSgirl]

Place marking!

[confuugled1]

I'm an undecided voter - mostly because I believe that we're being put into a Lose:Lose situation, whichever way the vote goes Which is a shame because I love going to Europe, and love the idea of close European ties.

However, the EU of today and the future is very different from the original EC that we voted to join so many years ago - and not all of it for the better. The European Parliament seems to be a law unto itself that cares only for itself and wants to make everybody and everything in Europe identical, rather than seeing that differences are not necessarily wrong, just different, and by imposing one way of doing something on everybody in the EU will work for some countries and not for others, rather than finding a solution that works for everyone.

I guess my ramblings (sorry!) are leading me to the question of why should I vote for Remain rather than Brexit given that neither of them seem to give a good deal to the United Kingdom? I get why it's important and that there's a lot riding on it for everybody involved - but it seems very difficult to find unbiased reporting, nobody can know what will happen afterwards either way yet seem to be stating what will happen with confidence. The whole thing leaves me feeling scared and vulnerable.

[AlanJohnsonMP]

test

[AlanJohnsonMP]

Hello,

Great to be back at Mumsnet after an eight year absence, during which I've grown older and Mumsnet has, deservedly, got bigger. I have my answer prepared to the question, what's your favourite biscuit - I just need someone to ask!

[AlanJohnsonMP]

@ginghambox

Alan you are one of the very few Labour politicians I have any time for but can you tell me the date of the plague of locusts after Brexit so I don't need to put the washing out.

Hi ginghambox,

I can confidently reveal the date of the plague of locusts is 24th of June if we vote to leave - in which case, the plan is to grant locusts free movement, anywhere in the EU.

[Janefromdowntheroad]

Bet it's a Lotus

[Chickenbrain2009]

I would like to ask Alan how, as a Socialist , he can justify staying in the EU when it is so corrupt and is run for the benefit of big business rather than the people. The EU is a source of misery and unemployment for millions, particularly the young in Southern Europe. It seems to me that no true Socialist can support it.

[CFSKate]

I also am undecided and feeling scared.
My worries about remaining,
Too much immigration - I don't want to build all over the countryside to house whoever wants to come here. Quality of life/environment matters.
I read you can't have open borders and a welfare state - I am disabled and need the welfare state.
I read the EU is not democratic and that decisions are made by people that we didn't vote for, and the people we did vote for, i.e. MPs/MEPs don't have so much say. People fight to get the vote, why would we give up its power?

[PirateSmile]

Hi Alan. Good to have you here.

My question relates to the fact that I fear large swathes of working-class people will vote out as they appear to be fearful of immigration and are moving further to the right. Why is that? How have the Labour party contributed to this happening? Is it because Labour are increasingly London-Centric career politicians (in the Milliband mould)?

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Good question, Pirate.

[AlanJohnsonMP]

@romanrainsalot

I'm with Dancinghorse5 on this one. I am sick of the doooooom message from Cameron & co. It gets more ridiculous by the day. The price of broccoli will quadruple if we leave EU!

Dear Alan

I'd like to hear some of the positive things that could happen if we remain in the EU - what are the upcoming issues the EU will be debating that could make a difference to our lives?

Hi,

There are lots of positives about remaining including continuing access to the biggest commercial market in the world, with no tariffs, or no tariff barriers.

If we compete in the single market in services, which makes up 80% of our economy, it will yield much more prosperity and many more jobs. We should also, in doing this, include digital services.

On digital gaming, for instance, we are second in the world, behind the US.

There are many more aspects of the social dimension of Europe, which we should tackle, including the ability of some companies to use a loophole in the Agency Workers Directive to undercut the going rate in sectors such as construction. That is within the gift of the member states and we have plenty of allies willing to work with us to deal with this.

Primarily, the EU is about free speech, democracy and the rule of law. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 because of its role in promoting those very important concepts.

And that should remain at the heart of everything the EU does.

[Janefromdowntheroad]

Pirate, yes that's what I was sort of asking. I knew lots of working class people who have never even registered to vote who are actively campaigning for Brexit.

Why do you think this is Alan?

[PirateSmile]

Thanks ThroughThickandThin01

[Janefromdowntheroad]

I thought the UK was about democracy, free speech and the rule of law. How can an unelected group of people proposing legislation be democratic?

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

The UK is about free speech, democracy and the rule of law. Why would we expect any less from the EU? It's fundamental, not a selling point.

[AlanJohnsonMP]

@sandgrown

Hello Alan . Can I first say how much I enjoyed your books. If we vote to stay in the EU will politicians still fight for concessions for Britain? I think many people are worried about the loss of control and that as the EU increases in size it will be harder for Britain to have any influence. If we believe what is written in the media many more migrants will be heading for Britain. If that is true what is it that we have here that is so special and should we fight to protect it ?

Glad you enjoyed the books! I fear there is a fundamental misunderstanding, both about the way the EU works and the powers that it has.

Essentially, we have ceded control on trade competition policy, customs and the preservation of fish stocks.

Everything else, are matters either where we are in total control or we agree that by working together with others, we can have a beneficial outcome. Agriculture is a good example, as is the environment. We do cede some sovereignty to Brussels, just as we do to the UN, the WTO, the IMF etc.

But I agree with Barack Obama, it doesn't modify Britain's voice - it amplifies it. That's particularly true in respect of Article 6 of the Treaty of Rome, that commits all Member States to the principles of freedom of speech, democracy and the rule of law, which are very much although not exclusively, British principles. As for the reports of more migrants heading for Britain, I think we need to be working with our partners in Europe to resolve these problems which will not go away if Britain leaves the EU. Indeed, we'd be worse off in respect of migrants from outside the EU because at the moment we're part of the Dublin Accord, which means between 1 and 2 thousand asylum seekers are returned to the first country they arrive in, in accordance with this important EU agreement.

We are outside Schengen which means nobody enters this country without having their passport checked and we reject those whose criminal record or our suspicion that they may be engaged in criminal activity means that they shouldn't be allowed to enter the country. Thanks to our EU membership we have also effectively moved our border from Dover to Calais, an agreement which is unlikely to survive Brexit.

As for Turkey, in 30 years only one of the 36 chapters that have to be closed in negotiations to join the EU has been completed. And serious problems exist both with human rights in Turkey and their refusal to recognise Cyprus as a legitimate country.

Turkey will not be joining the EU any time soon and Britain, along with every other Member State has an absolute veto over any countries seeking to join.

[Ganma1]

Hi Alan
We've been told by the Bremainers that house prices could fall by 10% if we leave the EU. I wish it were true as it would be the biggest incentive for young people to vote Leave; my sons have no prospect of ever saving enough money to put a deposit on a house, they are "generation rent". House supply to demand is going to get worse as immigration continues to soar. Doesn't that mean ever rising prices?

[Chickenbrain2009]

I am very disappointed, so far Alan seems to be avoiding answering many of the questions. Its no good just answering questions if they are not probing.

[TresDesolee]

Alan, Alan, what's your favourite biscuit

[AlanJohnsonMP]

@Janefromdowntheroad

I thought the UK was about democracy, free speech and the rule of law. How can an unelected group of people proposing legislation be democratic?

Actually the EU is all about democracy, freedom of speech and the rule of law. It's enshrined in Article 6 and countries that knew very little about any of those principles such as Spain under Franco, or a whole swathe of Eastern European countries that were under the totalitarian heel of the Soviet Union, have benefited from their membership.

There's an important point here about how the EU works.

It's true that so-called bureaucrats propose legislation in exactly the same way that civil servants do in Whitehall. For those proposals to become EU law, they have to be agreed by the ministers of elected governments and in most cases, by an elected Parliament.

There is no perfect institution. Certainly not the place that I work in, where for instance we have an un-elected second chamber and no written constitution. But given the prize of countries working together across our continent and replacing war-war with jaw-jaw (to quote Churchill) it works reasonably well although nobody in the remain camp believes that there is no room for improvement. Reform is a process not an event. And you can't reform anything from outside.

[AlanJohnsonMP]

@TresDesolee

Alan, Alan, what's your favourite biscuit

I've tried to think of a European biscuit with 28 different ingredients but have decided to plump for a boring old chocolate digestive.

[Janefromdowntheroad]

Ganma1, the housing scare tactic was a huge own goal for the remainers. They don't seem to realise the scale of young voters anger over housing prices.

[AlanJohnsonMP]

@MegCleary

Staunch in voter here. I am so disappointed in the level of debate and scaremongering on both sides. Is there any way he can think of to raise the level of debate?

I can understand your disappointment. We have from the start tried to make sure our campaign didn't get into the same realms of hyperbole that we've seen elsewhere.

However, on many occasions, you are forced to respond to a media headline and the more outrageous the comment, the bigger the headline.

So for instance, we'd like to talk about the legitimate areas of concern around free movement, i.e. exploitation and unfairness. But when faced with the headline (and lie) that Turkey will be joining the EU with 75 million of its citizens congregating at Calais, it's hard to have a serious debate.

My view is that Europe is still primarily about peace. And although we are 41 years on from the last referendum, the fact that there have been no world war on our continent since the beginning of this project is still a legitimate and inspiring message,

As is the fact that countries under dictatorships such as Spain, Portugal and a whole swathe of Eastern Europe, have converted from oligarchy to democracy without a shot being fired.

Countries working together on our continent can achieve much more than countries working in isolation in an increasingly inter-dependent world.