Question:
Should the UK have a vote on EU withdrawal?
ƒαηтαѕтι¢ ☞CAT☜
2011-09-29 04:21:19 UTC
The vast majority of people I speak to have a very negative opinion of the European Union and I'd say the overwhelming majority believe EU membership has little benefit for the United Kingdom, economically or socially. We are not a member of the single currency, yet so far we've forked out hundreds of billions in loans to struggling Euro countries like Ireland, Greece and Portugal. Countries where they "burnt both ends of the candle" for over a decade and rely on other member states to bail them out.

If the UK electorate had a referendum on EU membership, I'd guess the vast majority would vote for complete withdrawal. Are there any real benefits of our EU membership any longer, with our economies and services being milked by so much immigration from poorer member countries, illegal immigration, very restricted EU fishing quota's and the fact we're all being hammered financially as a result of fellow "EU citizens" overspending. Personally, I think enough is enough and would like to vote a resounding NO to the EU (Evil Union)
Fourteen answers:
Helena Megre
2011-09-29 09:27:44 UTC
It's people like you that make me glad that UK is in EU without their consent.

Greece is a special case, but Portugal and Ireland "Brunt both ends of the candle" and "...relay on others..."? Do you really know what you're talking about? No you don't.



Firstly, Ireland had a housing bubble and their banking system failed. Imagine a country that have a broken banking system with a size bigger than it's own. Do you think it would be able to rescue it without creating debt? NO. Actually, Ireland have been, in the last decade,much more accurate in it's spending than UK.



Secondly, Portugal had a 53% debt in 2008 when the crisis emerged. It had to spend 35 billions to save the portuguese banks (Look, 35 billions to add to the debt and that represent 20% of GDP), that invested in bankrupt banks from the liberal system of UK and USA. Also, Portugal never requested on it's own a Bail Out that actually was imposed to protect Spain.

Just read this article, is plain simple and is in ENGLISH:

http://euobserver.com/19/31362



I hate when you british, that have a huge debt, a huge deficit and don't even tackle it, complain about the use of money in Portugal or Ireland. It's just a joke. From all the 3 you are the ones who "Brunt both ends of the candle", but act as if you were the saints that are being punished. Guess what, if UK were in Eurozone, would be the second to sink after Greece, not Ireland.



If you want to get out, get, but don't come with that story that Portugal and Ireland live with your money because it is just not true.
Kon
2011-10-01 22:42:28 UTC
I hated the euro when it came in here in Ireland, though it was for sentimental reasons - I was only a kid at the time. Now I hate it because we've lost economic sovereignty and don't have control over our own currency to the same extent as the UK does.



I'm not an extreme eurosceptic but I'm frustrated at the way europe is going right now. The Irish constitution can only be changed by referendum, a fact I'm gald of. The problem is, with the Nice treaty, we voted 'No' and we were told we didn't vote right, so it went to a second referendum, where it was passed. The exact same happened for the Lisbon treaty. I believe the UK were promised a referendum on the latter but the government reneged on this, and like every other country (save Ireland) ratified it without consulting its citizens.



The UK leaving the EU would earn it bad rapport with its european neighbours but it wouldn't be as economically dependent on the EU as other countries. Ireland's economy is supposed to be on the way up but it's an export dependent strategy being used. Multinational companies are attracted here supposedly because of low taxes and skilled workers. But these companies will leave in a heartbeat if they can make more money elsewhere.



Its a disgrace that ordinary citizens of Ireland, the UK, France, etc. are paying for banks that effectively no longer exist (like Anglo Irish - a €60billion black hole) and the cowboys that ran it all are still living the high life.



I don't live in the UK, but I believe that Britain should consider their position in europe when things start to get back on track. Europe is turning increasingly federal, and the lisbon treaty did nothing but strip countries of their vetoes and give more power to an unelected elite. Ireland is thought to have 2/3 of europes' gas reserves in our waters, yet we gave up the right to them to join the EU. Enough is enough. The whole system is getting out of touch with ordinary people and needs to be reeled in.
STUART B
2011-10-02 19:10:10 UTC
This issue of bailouts is a bit of a red herring. We would have had to bail out Ireland whether we were in the EU or not. Our economies are so closely linked (and have been for centuries) that ignoring Ireland just isn't an option. It's not EU membership that created that situation. Likewise with Greece, we actually negotiated an opt-out for the bulk of the rescue package, so we're not being forced to bail out Greece as a result of our EU membership.



So what does leaving the EU actually achieve? It doesn't prevent us from being exposed to the financial problems in the Eurozone (and certainly not in Ireland). It won't make the EU suddenly vanish into thin air. The EU will still exist, it will still have a huge influence on our economy and the only thing we'll have achieved is giving up our ability to influence it as one of the "big three" member states.
2016-05-15 06:53:58 UTC
Being in the EU and having power sent to Brussels are very different things. Being part of the EU makes the UK part of the largest economic body in the world, means we have unlimited trade between EU nations, although thanks to the complete collapse of our manufacturing sector (I'm thinking Cadbury), mostly that means importing stuff from Germany and France. The answer is not to completely withdraw from the EU - that's pointless and silly, but to carefully manage what - if any - sovereign powers are given to the EU.
2011-09-30 05:59:03 UTC
In reply to Mike B's comments that we were given a referendum in 1975 he forgot to mention that it was counted in secret in London, thus allowing the Government of the day to pronounce any result they wanted. Of course we should have a referendum,we have never had a vote on the European Union as it stands today, the vote we were given was for the common market which was for trade between its members,not a United states of Europe. When we do eventually get a vote on the subject it needs to be counted locally with honest scrutineers to prevent another stitch up. The sooner the better.
2011-09-29 04:41:21 UTC
We were promised a referendum and the MPs let us down again. The UKIP are probably the only party that will genuinely seek to take us out of Europe; perhaps one day they will get the chance - if only to say to Europe 'stuff your restrictive Human Rights laws!'. Our slavish pandering to this act alone is dragging the UK further and further down the path of identity loss as a nation.
JOHN G
2011-09-29 11:20:17 UTC
After the low turnout of less than 40% in the last referendum for PR I doubt it , if less than around 65% people bother to vote it would be a waste of the £180 million it costs to have one.
2011-10-02 07:13:35 UTC
Yes
Mike B
2011-09-29 06:12:14 UTC
First, the call for a referendum on EU membership is a red herring, we have already done it, and the people of the UK voted to stay in way back in 1975.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_European_Communities_membership_referendum,_1975



Second, we have not paid out billions of pounds to any EU country apart from the Republic of Ireland, this was done to safeguard UK investments in the Republic and to support one of our most important trading partners.



We have paid no money into Greece, that is purely a 'Euro' problem, and therefore has nothing to do with us, we are not part of the Euro.



We underwrote £6bn of Portuguese debt, this means that if Portugal defaults, very unlikely, we may have to pay out on the £6bn, but no money has been given to Portugal at this stage, the Portuguese ecomony is important to the UK as we are net exporters to Portugal, so that nation remaining solvent helps pay our deficit.



Our deficit dwarfs anything that the Greeks, Portuguese or the Irish have, to claim that these deficits come from burning the candle at both ends is true only to a point, and could be levied at the UK more than it could at the Republic, Portugal or Spain, we were spending money based on USA investments that had no actual monetary value, the collapse of these investments caused the run on UK and worldwide banks that lead to the credit crunch, our fault for having a 'deregulated' banking system. So I cannot see how this has anything to do with EU membership.



The Greek finances have been in tatters for years, well before they joined the EU, they have always spent far more than they make, sooner or later the Greek economy was going to collapse, and one way or another EU membership or not, something would have to be done.



Illegal immigration, there is no illegal immigration between EU states, you can go and live in Estonia, Greece, France, Spain and Poland just as easily as those people can come here, withdrawl from the EU is unlikely to change that, free trade agreements would have to be set up with individual states, or prices of goods from EU countries would soar as tariffs were put in place, do you really want to be paying £10 for a Spanish orange, as part of these free trade agreements you can bet your life we would have to agree to a free exchange of labour. Such things existed long before we became a member in 1973. There has always been free movement of people between the UK, Republic of Ireland and some of the Scandinavian countries.



Fishing quotas, withdrawl from the EU would not make any difference, we can only catch what fish are there, the quotas apply to non-EU countries as well by international trade agreements (Iceland and Norway), we would still need to be part of that or we simply would find our fishing ports blockaded, anyway do you really want to fish the North Sea until there are no fish left in it?



The poster who mentioned Human Rights, the Human Rights Act has nothing whatsoever to do with the EU, it was UK legislation passed in the UK parliament, and to use this against the EU is nothing more than a fraudulent arguement.



We do more trade across the borders of the other EU member states than we do with any other nation of Earth, to remove ourselves from that would cost the UK far more financially than continued membership does.



I would also have to pick up on your claims about the 'vast majority', there is no vast majority, there is no national call for us to leave the EU, it is an invention of the media and and invention of Tory backbenchers who like to blame others for the fact that their policies simply are not working. UKIP exists, if people in their millions really wanted out UKIP would be the most popular party currently in the UK, and if the vast majority wanted out, do you think either Cameron or Milliband would seriously ignore it, they would both be calling for it, it would be Labour Manifesto pledge number 1 to use to get back in power.



Politicians need to be elected to keep their jobs, Tory, Labour and Lib Dem marginal MPs, and currently that is a large number of them, want to keep their jobs, this people would be campaigning hard for a referendum if they thought it would help them keep their seats, and apart from a small number of Tory and Labour MPs that is not happening, that silence says an awful lot.



If such a referendum was called the debate would begin and to be sure the nonsense that is often blamed on the EU would be exposed for what it is and the chances of the UK withdrawing by the time the vote came round would be very low indeed. Your resounding no would be disappearing faster than snow in July.
ERIC S
2011-09-29 05:10:48 UTC
I am totally for it, just for a change the Government could be carrying out the will of the people.
?
2011-09-29 04:31:09 UTC
Thank god our government had the good sense to opt out of the Euro. France was stupid enough to join the Euro, all the Euro does is help Germany sell cars internationally and boost their manufacturing sector. The next step is for us to leave this white elephant..
nkcliff
2011-09-29 04:35:20 UTC
maybe, or maybe we should dive in with both feet and burn our candles at both ends, it was reported today that the uk is the worst place to live in the eu for the common man that is.
Clatty Mary
2011-09-29 04:26:55 UTC
Of course they should, but the Bankers (who control all the main political party's) won't allow it.



This is the truth.
NO To EU
2011-09-29 05:54:09 UTC
Have your say at:



http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/356


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