My usual default position is anything David Cameron thinks is a good thing i am against so it is quite awkward that i find myself on the same side of the fence as the Conservative Party leader as we both think it is in the countries interest to remain in the EU.
I wasn't previously concerned about the In/Out referendum on 23rd June as the polls continually showed the 'NO' vote in the minority and was relaxed that my fellow Brits would do the sensible thing and stick with the EU, but suddenly things don't seem quite so clear-cut.
The warnings that food prices will rise, three million jobs will be at risk, EU membership is worth £3,000 per household, the economy will suffer, national security will be at stake and we will lose free healthcare on holiday don't seem to hold sway anymore as the No are hammering the immigration line, saying that it is all about 'control immigration' and taxes going to Poles and Romanians claiming benefits and mentioning camps of immigrants at Calais just waiting to invade our shores and suck up Job Seekers Allowance.
The only argument that i have heard so far that has stopped 'NO' people mid moan is how the Premier League would be decimated as European players would not qualify for work permits if Britain quit the EU and treated them as overseas footballers and two thirds of them presently playing would not meet the criteria currently used for non-Europeans to get a work visa.
All 20 Premier League clubs have at least one player who would be affected if these rules were used on the current squads. Sunderland would be left with no goalkeepers, while Swansea would be reduced to just one attacking player. Newcastle would lose six midfielders.
Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Swansea City would lose nine players each so rather than just concentrate on the economic benefits, would be useful to throw having to wave goodbye to footballers into the equation.
4 comments:
Strange bedfellows indeed but it's not really a left v right thing, more an old v young thing as it seems the older generation see Europeans coming over here taking our jobs while the younger generation see exactly the same thing but them being able to go to Europe to work.
Is this whole leave the EU thing mainly about immigration?
The out campaign are hammering the immigration angle while the in campaign are concentrating on the economic benefits.
It's difficult to believe that the "leave" side is making immigration a central part if not the central part of its campaign.
From afar, it often looks like the EU is a monstrous hyper-bureaucratic promoter of everything which one might stereotypically say distinguishes the United States from Europe. Structurally, the EU seems to almost consciously avoid every good design quality of the US Constitution, especially when it comes to balancing the democratic will of the whole union against the sensibilities of individual states.
All that being said, when did division among the nations of Europe ever end well? The EU's ability to sometimes be irritating to those on the Western side of the Atlantic is a testament to its strength and, dare I say it, effectiveness at promoting all which is frustratingly European. Immigration just feels like such a lousy way to go. It seems like all of the European states have the same internal ideological balance over the immigration issue and are all straining over it and it just so happens that Britain is on an island on the far Northwest side of Europe.
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