It is expected that the UK will hold its referendum on EU membership later this year. The focus of the national news so far in relation to this has been on Prime Minister David Cameron's diplomatic manoeuvres to obtain support for reforms; an effort to make EU membership more palatable to the British public, who have indicated that they are not happy with the status quo. However, it appears that Mr Cameron has seemingly achieved the most that he is going to get out of these efforts- and if anything these agreements could be watered down by other EU member states come the referendum.
There are few years where those campaigning to remain within the EU are going to face a greater struggle: a time when a migrant crisis has shaken the borderless Schengen Area and led to European states resurrecting their borders to try to stop the deluge of hundreds of thousands of people arriving; and this while the economic toil of the past 8 years or so looms in the background and has greatly tested the Eurozone. While Britons will largely be relieved that they are outside the Schengen Area and Eurozone, there seems to be momentum behind pulling even further away from our European neighbours. Even Angela Merkel's Germany, once seen as a responsible European leader and rational and reasonable partner for Britain in Europe, now appears to have taken a great misstep by allowing a million migrants into their country- with the substantial undermining of Merkel's credibility after such a lengthy term of office reminiscient of Margaret Thatcher's downfall after the adoption of the poll tax. The difference being that Mrs Thatcher's poll tax was easier to revoke and overcome, and will have fewer long-term consequences...
I am of the school of thought that the EU can be a largely positive force, encouraging and enabling cooperation in many respects, with the European Parliament providing some much-needed, directly-elected representation. However, the imposition of laws on member states, whether they want it or not, has tainted the organisation. But for me, my greatest concern (expressed in previous posts) is with the free flow of the population- exacerbated by the migrant crisis. Already, under a Government supposedly hostile to mass migration, record-breaking levels of net migration have nevertheless been achieved, and a flow of hundreds of thousands of people to the UK every year is having a great impact- particularly in London and the Home Counties, which are already very densely populated. Issues ranging from the cost and availability of housing, of enough school places, of sufficient access to healthcare, of ample water supplies, of overstretched transport infrastructure (both public transport and for private vehicles), and so on, stem from the excessive population that shows no sign of abating.
I still struggle to understand why the Government has not taken more drastic steps to restrict the immigration that it can control: from outside the EU. Seeing as it has not done this, and shows little intention of doing so in the future; voting to leave the EU seems to be the only way myself and other ordinary Britons can take action to try and inhibit the relentless inflow of people into this country.
I am mindful of the damage to UK manufacturing this could do, the impact on Britain's international influence, and even to the integrity of the UK itself (with the constituent nations of the UK beside England generally more pro-European)- but these are broader issues that, frankly, do not tend to affect my day-to-day life; whereas excessive migration will have a greater and greater impact if allowed to continue. And so, it is with reluctance, that I currently feel obliged to vote leave.
