Tomorrow we all have the chance to cast our vote
for the most important decision our country has faced in generations, as we
decide whether the United Kingdom should remain as part of the European Union.
I have always been clear about my euro-scepticism. For
some time I have not believed the EU was working for the UK. Following, what to
me, was essentially a failed negotiation, by the Prime Minister earlier this
year, I decided I would be voting to leave the EU in this referendum. There are
many reasons why I believe this is the case. For the purposes of this article I
am going to focus on the three I believe are the most important, sovereignty,
our country’s finances and the uncertainty of remaining.
Firstly, sovereignty. To me the issue of
sovereignty is key. A vote to leave the EU will set in motion a return to the
UK of decision-making powers that have increasingly been removed from us by
ever-expanding EU bureaucracy.
Many of you will have voted in the original
referendum to join the then-European Economic Community in 1975. That
referendum did not include the ever closer union of EU member states. Since
then, more and more laws that historically and rightly were the responsibility
of UK Parliament are instead being made by faceless, unaccountable and unelected
officials in Brussels. I know many of you are upset by this as it was not part
of the original deal. Now is your chance to vote again. A vote to leave would
see a return to the UK being able to operate on our own terms as a trading
nation, free to negotiate and regulate our own trade deals. Businesses would be
free of the crushing weight of EU red tape, we would be able to have total
control over our own borders, and we would regain control over our 200-mile
fishing waters. Brexit would mean that all of these decisions would be returned
to the responsibility of British MPs who are accountable to you, the British
public and you alone.
Secondly,
the economic argument for leaving could not be clearer. As a net contributor to
the EU our membership costs us in excess of £10billion every year. And as our
economy continues to grow faster than most other EU nations this figure is
likely to increase further.
One
of the arguments put forward for us voting to remain in the EU is the amount of
economy development support that Cornwall receives. However, as I said in
Parliament last week, over
the past 10 years or so Cornwall has received around £600 million in money from
the EU. But we need to remember that that is not EU money. The EU does not
actually have any money—there is no magic EU money tree. It is our money, which
we give to the EU. It converts it into euros, then converts that into sterling
to give back to us, except that it gives it back with a whole load of strings,
bureaucracy and red tape attached about how we can spend it.
I get quite wound up
when I see that wonderful blue plaque saying, “Funded by the European Union”.
Every time I see one, I think, “No, that was funded by British taxpayers’ money
that you have recycled and given back to us AND then told us how to spend.”
The fact is, this is not
working. The money was meant to create 10,000 new jobs in Cornwall. In fact, in
the past 10 years or so, it has created around a third of that number. That
Cornwall has now qualified for a third round of EU funding demonstrates that
the funding is failing. It is not lifting the Cornish economy as intended. It
is not raising wages or the standard of living in the way it was designed to.
There is a very simple
reason for that failure. We are not able to spend the aid on what we need to in
Cornwall. How we should spend it is dictated, Big Brother fashion, by the EU.
The requirements are designed for a Europe-wide programme that does not fit the
Cornish economy.
A vote to leave will
give our country back control over where we can target our financial resources.
Along with the other Cornish MPs I am confident that we will be able to
continue to argue the case for Cornwall to get its share of the additional
money freed up for spending from central government should we leave the EU. I
will certainly do all I can to make sure this happens.
Finally, there is
the uncertainty of remaining in the EU. The Remain Campaign has argued that
leaving would be a bad idea due to the uncertainty of what awaits us on the outside
of the EU. I believe that staying in what is a demonstrably failing group of
nations exposes us to far worse possibilities. Vast amounts of our money has
been pumped into propping up and bailing out EU member countries such as
Greece, who never should have been allowed to join the Euro zone and these cash
injections are only a temporary fix. Things are not going to get better and we
will only waste more money in trying to postpone the inevitable.
The current migration crisis continues to be a major issue
across the EU. One option being considered by the powers that be in Europe is a
new "corrective fairness mechanism" to relocate asylum seekers from
frontline states to other EU countries, something which could also have serious
ramifications for our already stretched public services and housing stock.
I would much rather see us take the positive,
forward-looking and very British step of leaving the EU while maintaining close
links with European countries, as well as reinforcing and reclaiming our international
status, particularly in this age where technology advances make operating on a
truly global scale so easy. As Churchill said, “We have our own dream and our
own task. We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked but not combined. We
are interested and associated but not
absorbed. If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must
always choose the open sea.”
The
final point I would make is that the ‘status quo’ is not an option. We will
either vote to leave the EU tomorrow and be able to take control of our own
affairs, or we will vote to remain. A vote to remain is not a vote to carry on
as things currently are. The EU has not reformed and has shown no willingness
to do so. They remain committed to further integration and expansion – as we
know Turkey is waiting in the wings to join. If we remain we will be locked
into an increasingly uncertain future within EU and tied to the other 27 states
economically and politically.
In the
end though, the outcome of the referendum is rightly in the hands of the public
and not just the politicians. Your vote is just as important as mine here. I
will be voting for the UK to leave the EU tomorrow, and regardless of the
outcome will continue to serve you, the people of St Austell and Newquay and
ensure that we get the best deal possible whether as part of the EU or not.
