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Questions to consider

THE referendum is fast approaching. I myself am taking this very seriously. I have listened to many radio and television debates and have also done my own research and as a result I know which way I shall be voting.

Ask yourself one question: are things really that bad in this country? I think not, our economy is one of the strongest and we have a lot of foreign investment in this country. Why? Because of our global appeal.

I have listened to the Leave campaign and they paint a rosy picture. However, it would be a huge gamble.

Call it scaremongering, but the facts are: What if foreign investment dries up? What if we fail to replace our solid trade deals we currently have in the single market? Our jobs could be at risk, pensions could suffer and don’t forget it would create years of uncertainty.

Added to this, our young people have opportunities that our grandparents fought two world wars for, opportunities to live, work and travel throughout Europe.

They say when you gamble only gamble what you can afford to lose. When you are in that voting booth on June 23, I urge you to think, can we really afford to gamble away what we have built up in this country?

The EU isn’t perfect, but let’s not turn our back on it – let’s work together to make it better.

The benefits far outweigh the negatives.

KEVIN MITCHELL

Northfields

Calne

....

Voters deserve the truth

IN A week’s time the people in this country are being asked to make a decision that will have a fundamental impact upon the future.

I am disappointed and frustrated about the way that politicians on both sides of the argument have created an acrimonious situation where scoring political points seems to have taken precedence over properly presenting the arguments for staying or leaving.

People in this country should be given the true facts and figures; not the exaggerated claims that we have been subjected to.

I am particularly annoyed at the Remain camp’s strategy of trying to frighten people into voting Stay by fantastic claims about the Armageddon to follow should we vote to leave.

The fact is that there is also a large degree of uncertainty if we stay.

Currently, there are several countries, of which Greece is the most obvious, that are in severe financial difficulties and could well require a large bail-out to which we would have to contribute.

There are also another seven countries in the process of joining the EU; including Turkey which could be a full member within the next 10 years (despite Mr Cameron’s rhetoric).

There is also the issue of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Talks, between the EU and USA, which are being held in secret.

All of these could have a significant impact upon the financial health of the country as well as the contentious issue of immigration.

Don’t we deserve the truth?

ROD NEALE

Brooksby Way

Coleview

Swindon

....

Understand the risks

OVER the past week £100 billion has been wiped off the stock market, and many employers have been holding back on advertising for new jobs due to the uncertainty a Brexit would bring.

To put that into context, for every £1 we contributed to the EU last week, the UK lost £667.

I wish that Remain campaign was just a deliberate ‘Project Fear’ campaign. I wish that I knew it was just a kind of lie to keep Britain in the European Union, because then I would know it wouldn’t happen.

Letting people understand the risks of leaving an organisation that has helped our economy grow and prosper over the past 40 years into one of the richest in the world is not fear-mongering but common sense.

The EU needs reform, there is no denying that, but is sacrificing jobs and making families in Swindon poorer worth the effort to make Boris Johnson Prime Minister? If you don’t think so, vote Remain on the 23rd.

ALEX HEGENBARTH

Head of Britain Stronger In Europe

Swindon

....

Goodbye to all of that

ALEX Hegenbarth continues to convince me the quicker we get out of the EU the better, The Adver, June 13, “Hijacked EU debate”.

He claims it is a lie that the UK sends £350 million a week to the EU. What he doesn’t tell us is how much the UK does send. Government statistics for 2015 estimated the UK’s gross contributions to the EU were £17.78 billion. Receipts and rebates for the UK from this sum were £9.31 billion so the UK’s net contribution to the EU was £8.47 billion.

A report in “This is Money.co.uk” Financial Website of the Year published on August 1, 2012 said: “Being a member of the EU has been a one-way street for Britain. Contributions from Britain to the EU budget have outstripped the benefits received in every single year of membership.” The latest government statistics prove this continues to be the case.

Mr Hegenbarth may regard throwing money away as a good deal but I don’t.

He should consider the following analogy. You go into the supermarket to buy your weekly shop. At the door you are greeted by the manager who asks you how much you are going to spend to which you reply £100. The manager then says, if you want to shop here you must give me the £100 and in return I will give you £50 but you must spend it on the goods which I tell you to. This is effectively the deal which the UK gets from the EU.

Most people would say only a fool would accept this deal. As the saying goes a fool and their money are soon parted.

Would Mr Hegenbarth like to give me the same deal as the EU gives to the UK? If he gives me £100 I will return £50 to him? However, the condition is, he can only have the £50 back if he promises to spend it on Leave campaign leaflets and distributes them around Swindon town centre.

I suggest the electorate checks to see which organisations receive UK tax payers’ money in the guise of EU funding. These organisations should then be cross referenced to see if they are supporting the Remain campaign.

I look forward to leaving the corrupt EU.

K KANE

Wharf Road

Wroughton

Swindon

....

Costly shortage of skills

REGRETTABLY the Leave Campaign is almost totally dependant on fanning fears of immigration.

Having just been in hospital I am acutely aware just how dependent the NHS is on skilled staff from other EU countries.

But such skilled workers are also required in industries and businesses across the board – leaving the EU would lead to a massive skills shortage which would cripple our economy

Where are the necessary skilled workers to come from to fill this gap when we have created an enforced brain drain?

Based on Research and Analysis of Migration undertaken at University College London between 2001-11, EU migrants paid £25 billion more in tax to the UK Treasury than they received in welfare benefits.

So the Leave campaign would deprive us not only of essential skilled workers, but also of invaluable tax revenue.

This constant stoking up of fear of immigrants is led by two politicians with dubious credentials in this area.

Boris Johnson was not even born in Britain.

Nigel Farage not only employs his German wife as his secretary but still flaunts his French roots in the affected pronunciation of his name.

If he was a real Briton he would surely rhyme his name with garage!

AP MILROY

Bellefield Crescent

Trowbridge

....

Think before you leap

I AGREE with the Brexit comment “Britain will grow outside the EU”.

The first question is, from what depth?

History records centuries where the people of the UK have survived wars, pestilence and disease and it will again.

But that is not the question posed by the referendum; the question is, who will survive?

What will Joe Public endure?

When will the UK grow?

Where will the UK end up?

How will those years be funded?

In these pages, (Adver Letters, Saturday, June 11) Greg Heathcliffe claimed that the EU is undemocratic.

This government has 35 per cent of the vote. A high percentage of the Front Bench are from the same “school”. A significant number have family connections to Banking and generations of the “ruling elite”.

I ask, is this system democratic?

Our unelected Civil Services has a high degree of nepotism, is that democratic?

No human system is perfect, neither the EU or the UK, but you can only effect change to a system from within.

In a recent public debate Michael Gove said he “can’t guarantee every person currently in work in their current job will keep their job”. So Michael knows that many jobs will be lost; not his I bet!

Look at what we know:

Brexit campaigners have long campaigned for NHS privatisation. Tory MPs have investments in private health. US Corporations are waiting to take over the NHS!

Brexit campaigners have campaigned to “cut red tape”; that is, workers’ employment rights, health and safety, holidays, sickness, etc.

Are you a “worker”?

Brexit claim 88 million Turks will join the EU. Simply NOT true!

Brexit campaigners have emblazoned on their bus, “UK send £350 million a week to the EU”; the UK Statistics Authority has said not true!

Brexit campaigners say the economic shock from Brexit is “a price worth paying”.

Here is the real question; who pays the price?

Brexit led by Boris?

No! Joe Public, you will pay yet again!

But we don’t have to pay the Brexit price!

Think before you jump into Boris’s black hole!

MIKE SPRY

Mayfield Close

Nythe

Swindon