I saw the report on The Lincolnite about the Visit of UKIP's deputy leader Paul Nuttall to Lincoln and started this as a response on Facebook. As it ended up as an essay, I have decided instead to post it here.
To my mind there is the UKIP version of the European Union facts and the real version of the European Union. The facts that UKIP and some in the Brexit campaign spread are not backed by evidence. Now I am not going to claim that the European Union is perfect - far from it. There are many ways that it could be improved and I hope that after a vote to Remain in the European Union, those who have engaged positively in the debate will be willing to join organisations such as European Movement UK so that the question of what kind of Europe we would like to see can be discussed in a genuine way without any hindrance of party politics. The question of Britain's relationship with the European Union cannot be allowed to fester for another generation - back in 1975 leaders of the No campaign accepted that they had lost. That should have been the end of the matter - indeed many at the time accepted that it was.
Since 1975 we have had two key treaties that reformed what was then the EEC. The Maastricht Treaty that established the European Union and the concept of monetary union (the Euro) and the Lisbon Treaty which took into account changes that were necessary with the accession of new countries into the Union. In neither case did the Governments of the day allow a referendum on those treaties. I have always felt that this was a mistake. Other Countries had referenda on these treaties that resulted in changes being made to take into account the views of individual nations and also allowed an opportunity for people within those nations to find out more about how the European Union worked. We were not denied those referenda by the European Union, we were denied them by our National Parliament. If we had, had the opportunity to have a say I believe that there would be a more settled view on the European Union and Britain's relationship with it.
As it is we now face a decision to Remain in the European Union or to risk the uncertainties that leaving the European Union would entail. I believe on balance that we are better of remaining within the European Union, I also believe that the debate we are having is one that may aid the calls for reform of the European Union to make the decision making process more transparant so that we can see how those rules are made. If they were transparant then some of the myths that are coming out from the Leave campaign would be seen for what they are.
The rules from the European Union are not made by unelected Commissioners. The Commissioners simply make proposals that are then discussed and debated by the elected European Parliament and Elected Ministers from each Nation http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/decision-making/index_en.htm. In the vast majority of cases the original proposals are changed during that process and some never come into being. A recent and tragic example is the handling of the Syrian refugee crisis. The idea of sharing refugees between all member states is one that seems to be dead in the water. What ever you might think of the original proposal from the European Commission, what more evidence could you want that the European Commission make our laws? If they did then the sharing of Syrian refugees would have been in place long ago.
In any case, it is a matter of fact that many of our politicians take proposals put forward by Think Tanks and other pressure groups which are then drafted by Civil Servants. Are they not unelected?
No one can be blind to the changes in population demographics in the south of the county. I see them first hand every day, but as whenever I travel to other parts of the county, I do not see the same affects of a significant change in the nationality of the local population. This visual impression is backed up by the statistics from the 2011 census. Check them out on Research Lincs. It is only the areas in the south east of the county that have seen changes that have been rapid. But have they? I can remember at the turn of the millenium when there were a lot of Spanish and Portuguese in the area. Today they are few and far between. This is what the free movement of people means. They can come here for work, but they can equally return home just as easily.
It is also a matter of fact that farmers and growers cannot recruit locally born workers these days. Agricultural and horticultural work is hard, and in many cases requires a very early start and is on minimum wage. It is the kind of work that many young people don't want to do. Furthermore if you look at the unemployment statistics for the area it is actually low. EU citizens do not come here to take work from British Citizens. They come here to do for jobs that would otherwise be hard to fill.
The issues that rapid population change has caused should be addressed by providing resources and encouragement to local authorities to address them. Such a decision is a National one. Lincolnshire has been short changed of resources and instead of clamouring to leave the European Union, with all the risk that entails we should be calling with one single voice on central government to provide the extra resources to address the very issues that UKIP have identified as affecting our county.
