Momentous decision

We will have a momentous decision to make for the future of this country come June.

Every eligible citizen when casting their vote, should be able to do so on the premise that, whichever way they vote, it was cast in the knowledge that they fully understood the arguments for doing so.

That’s the Utopian way of looking at it.

The reality I fear will be much different.

I say this because two letters printed in the Star last Saturday demonstrate how difficult it will be to make a decision based on what others are saying.

Whether it is an individual or an organisation, I have decided to ignore them as they ALL have a vested interest, one way or the other, as to which direction this country should take.

Call me a cynical person but when have we ever trusted what politicians, both from this country and the rest of the EU, have told us?

If we haven’t been interested enough to trust them in the past, why start now for the EU referendum?

The letter from DS Dalton makes several good points on what appear to be statements based on “averages” and “percentages of GDP”.

I regard these as misleading because I don’t trust Government statistics in any form.

The use of such tactics is arbitrary to say the least and BOTH sides can cloud the issue by using them.

For example, I read that the average wage in this country is £23,000 per year. What tosh. Most people I am acquainted with are not on this salary. So what price averages?

As for GDP percentages, these can muddy the waters too. Where does DS Dalton get the figure that Greece is paying a higher contribution to the EU than the UK? That suggests that the Greek economy is flourishing and that their income and taxation levels are better than ours, which I doubt given the mess that Greece was in.

Also, the figure of £4,500 that is the cost to every household of leaving the EU, I am not taking seriously either.

People question the Leave Campaign about this figure but it wasn’t them who quoted it. As far as I’m aware, this figure was bandied about by the In Campaign who have yet to satisfy me how they came about this figure in the first place.

It’s not up to the Leave Campaign to try and justify this figure. Who do you believe? That’s the issue for me with statistics.

In his letter, Steve of S8 makes the point that in his opinion he believes that Barrack Obama couldn’t care less whether the UK remained in the EU or not.

While you made some very interesting points in your letter, Steve, I have to disagree with you on that one.

Obama and the American establishment want to maintain links with Europe, both politically and for trade reasons.

Obviously not being in Europe, America have wanted their “special relationship” with us to include representing them in the EU when making decisions that would affect American policies and business priorities.

Don’t be fooled please. America when it comes to it will only decide on what’s best for America, whether we’re in Europe or not, but they would prefer to deal with the UK in Europe rather than out of it.

However, I didn’t like the image of Obama over here hinting strongly about what he expects the UK to do.

This is another reason for staying out of the EU in my view.

Unlike DS Dalton I do not fear the “unknown”.

I believe we are very capable of surviving out of the EU, which is growing from a Trade bloc to a Federal Republic of Europe.

I want us to get our country back. If that sounds isolationist in the face of everything that is going on in the world then fair enough.

However, I urge people to vote using their own intelligence and not rely on “statistics” given by either side.

I suppose, as DS Dalton says, it is a leap of faith but one which I think we should embrace and not be fearful of.

The EU hasn’t contributed in centuries past to make this country great but in the decades to come, the EU can most certainly contribute to our demise as a sovereign nation on this earth.

Ray

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