Are you In or Out

[Rooster]

Just a simple poll of Forum members thoughts on whether the UK should remain in the EU or leave after the referendum.

Please keep any comments non inflammatory please.

[Speedaddictedberk]

I'm really not sure. A big part of me thinks that out is the best way but I have a lot of doubt.
There's too much scaremongering on both sides to make an informed decision in a way.

[Dick63]

OH - so it is like a US election, then?

[Bikerbuk]

Having endured the Scottish Referendum, I see all the same arguments and the same faces popping up to bolster one side or the other.     Yet again, the public are being bombarded with claim and counter claim from both sides.    Project fear is most definitely in full swing, and why shouldn't it be.    It worked so well in the Scottish vote.     I honestly can't decide.    I was 100% Remain before this started, then I was very much leave for some time.    I'm finding the longer it goes on, the more questions I have.    My prediction is that it will be a remain vote.    People are frightened of change and thats where project fear will always triumph.     The myth is that a remain vote is a vote for the status quo.   Theres no such thing, especially within Europe.   Regardless of which way we vote, things will change.    One big question i have to the remain camp is - if it will be so devastating to the country, financially, security, culturally etc etc, why ask the question?   Why have the vote?   Don't gamble with what you can't afford to loose.     

Thankfully, i will be in Austria on 23rd of June.   Just waiting on my postal vote to arrive then i suppose I'll have to decide.   

So, yes it is like a bit like a US election.       

[ColinN]

Yep, it sure is time for the half truths on both sides and all the scaremongering that goes with it. Reading and watching / listening to all the dialogue from the non-politicians, seeing all the total c*ck-ups, time and money wasted, the enforced rules etc we have had to suffer (to some degree) over the past years, and the likelihood of what is to come if we stay in, I definitely want out. Two months ago I was on the fence, but mainly for staying in, but not now. Just take a look at Norway, plus, the EU now is not what it started out to be - unless we were all misled form the start!

Interesting traveling through France a month or so ago, and speaking to a lot of French people, I was surprised how many thought that they should have a referendum too, and a lot wanted out anyway.

[Rooster]

It seems that me that the "In" campaign is focused on what might happen if we leave, sighting everything from WW3, Ression, loss of jobs to a huge drop in property value.  I'm surprised they have not got round to destruction by asteroids or invasion from out of space. (But there is 4 weeks to go)

The "Out" campaign seems to have focused on the current problems within the EU and go some way to predicting reasonable alternatives. Hence my vote is OUT.

[redmerle]

To be fair, there are outrageous and utterly delusional claims on both sides!

The fastest way to get large numbers of people on (either) side is to appeal to their basic fears, insecurities and prejudices. For every well argued debate over meaningful economic ideas, they'll be 100 times the votes to be had out of falling, or rising, house prices. Especially if you "read" the Daily Mail or the Daily Express...

I'm tempted to say that anything that Nigel Farage agrees with and argues passionately for must, by definition, be a bad idea. But, more seriously, I believe that leaving the EU will be complete disaster for a large proportion of our currently successful industries and what the leave campaign have put forward to support their ideas that it won't be are little more than wishful thinking. In a world where we are likely to have the most dangerous and unstable US president we have ever seen, the last thing that we, or the rest of the EU, need is a damaging split.

I'll vote IN.

[Rooster]

Only 6% of UK business trade within the EU. Albeit, they are large companies with many employees.  And indeed are funding the In campaign.

[redmerle]

Originally Posted by Rooster

Only 6% of UK business trade within the EU. Albeit, they are large companies with many employees.  And indeed are funding the In campaign.

6%!

Taking the automotive industry alone (which has had something of a resurgence in the last decade), it'll be very damaging to the export prospects of major employers such as:

BMW (MINI @ Cowley, Rolls Royce @ Goodwood, Engine production @ Hams Hall and body pressings @ Swindon), Honda (also at Swindon), Toyota, Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover (Castle Bromwich, Solihull and Halewood), Ford (Dagenham, Bridgend & Dunton), Vauxhall (Luton and Ellesmere Port) and of course Triumph (@ Hinckley!).

If anyone thinks that there aren't going to be new trade barriers and that we can open markets elsewhere fast enough to replace those that become much more difficult, or that overseas manufacturers will still be as interested in us without free access to European markets then they will have a rude awakening!

Why shouldn't these companies spend money and effort to protect their investment and the future of their business?

[grumps]

OK, so we impose barriers on BMW, VW, Audi, Mercedes in retaliation. Do you honestly think the Germans will want to risk all their motor imports to the UK?

Then Renault, Citroen.

We need to go back to a Common Market, not a Federal United States of Europe run by faceless, un-elected Bureaucrats in some far off city who don't give a toss about our democracy - just filling themselves from a great big trough.