My reasons for voting Remain on 23 June

On Thursday, I’ll be voting to Remain in the European Union. Like many others I’ve been dismayed by the campaign and the image of Britain and the UK it has sent around the world. However,  we are a fantastic country and although I believe that we would be Stronger In, I also believe that we would be Strong Out. My reasons for voting Remain are :

1. The economic future of the world is about big trading blocks. America, China, Russia and India are large countries with large markets for domestic companies, Europe as a the EU can compete and negotiate on a reasonably equal basis. We’re better off benefiting from this than competing and negotiating independently.

2. It’s not ideal, but the UK economy is very reliant on the success of London – and part of London’s success relies on it being a European regional HQ for international businesses that want a base inside the EU. Being outside the EU would, to some extent, weaken London’s position.

3. The UK is pushed forward by the success of relatively few world class industries, these include : financial services, capital markets, education, law, the arts, media and creative sector, invention and specialist manufacturing, technology, medicine etc. Where these sectors have expressed an opinion, it’s mostly for Remain, either because they rely on international connectivity or on UK’s soft power as an open country.

4. So much of the UK’s influence in the world relies on our “soft power” as an open, democratic, friendly, fair country that will support the underdog and not always put itself first. Voting to leave the EU risks sending a different message to the world that would undermine our influence.  

5. The EU has achieved many things that benefit consumers, employees and citizens. In Britain, our politicians have themselves taken the credit for anything good instigated by the EU and blamed the EU for anything bad. We’re still split 50/50 even though, for over 40 years, not one of our politicians has explained the good side of the EU.

6. Leaving the EU is a fundamental change that could have far reaching implications for the UK and yet it’s clear the nation is pretty evenly split on the issue. I don’t think that is a sufficient mandate and, to me, such decisions should really require 66% support, not 51,52 or 53%.

7. There is widespread feeling, justifiably, that UK society isn’t fair. This manifests itself in blanket mistrust of “the establishment” and I believe that a proportion of the Leave vote is purely anti-establishment – “if everyone is telling us to vote Remain and they’re all in it for themselves, then we should vote to Leave”. It’s possible that the establishment would lose any referendum at present, it’s a shame it could be this one.     

8. The Leave campaign has been better, tactically, than the Remain campaign. This is because Cameron and Osborne have wrongly re-fought “Project Fear” that won the last General Election and the Labour Party is weak. And the Leave side have kept their darker side well hidden.

9. European nation fought European nation for hundreds of years and nearly destroyed the world. Because Europe came together, it doesn’t fight any more but many tensions still remain beneath the surface. I don’t want Europe to risk opening them up again by separating or to trigger a break-up of the EU.

10. We need mass immigration of young people willing to work. The UK needs to grow to 70, 80 or even 90 million people over the next century. As we get older and have fewer children we need to balance our society. We need to plan properly and build infrastructure including towns, hospitals and schools to enable this transformation to be successful. If we vote Leave we will convince ourselves that we need to “take control” of immigration and this will leave us open to slowly declining as a stagnant, ageing, uncompetitive country.

11. Last, and possibly most importantly, we shouldn’t have decided it like this. As responsible as we all are, we can only vote on how we feel in the moment, or at least the last few months. I don’t believe that a decision that could have consequences over 50 to 100 years should be taken by plebiscite or referendum.  

I hope that as many people as possible vote on Thursday.

Please note that this article reflects my personal opinions and cannot be attributed to the organisations I work for or represent.