Have you made your mind up about the referendum?

I'm sure there is a petition about that, Eloethan, to turn golf courses into land for housing.

I want out but will vote to stay in to avoid a far-right government taking over. Do we really want Johnson and Gove running this country? Saying that if this TTIP deal gets signed by the US and EU it will be corporations running the show more than they do now. When that happens you can say goodbye to the NHS

connie They are my worries too. Neither choice appeals much to me and I wonder if we are all being conned since the same sort of people will still be running the show whoever wins.

We have friends south of Paris as well, and they are all for us leaving and want to leave also - they are very French, so I think they speak for a lot of French people.

Sugargran it's just the same in Spain. Not just the English who want to leave but the Spanish as well.

they are very French, so I think they speak for a lot of French people.

Really ??? I am very English but I don't see how that would mean I speak for a lot of English people.

I have not heard any French people say they wish to see UK leave - and I am living among many of them. They all hope it will blow over and things will settle down - they see UK as a great ally and wish to keep them on side. I think there will be a change in the Eu generally - things always need tweaking after while. Also never forget Parisians are a totally different race of people to the rest of the French.

Gracesgran I think what Sugargran meant was: like my English friends in Spain, they speak the language fluently and understand completely what the French/Spanish are saying.

Pollyperkins, it's insulting and totally wrong to patronise those who want to leave the EU (not Europe ) as wanting a return to 50s England.

I have no desire to turn the clock back. I'd like to turn it forward so that we save our democracy and have a say as to how we live in the UK. Democracy is at stake as the EU becomes so much more than a trading agreement. We have a power bloc emerging with no say regarding who runs it, what their policies are or what we want in the UK.

Cameron's negotiations failed miserably. What does that suggest? He had no power, no clout in the EU.

Oh, and as for contentment? French and Spanish people also want referendums. That should be fun if we have to remain after June 23rd. We could become main contributors.

Oh, and Albania in the EU anyone? What on earth will that country bring to the EU? What will it offer? Will we fork out billions so they can join?

It will mean poor Albanians will have the opportunity to enjoy a lifestyle in the west.

We are encouraging interdependency and filling up more prosperous countries with migrants from the east looking for a better way of life. Who can blame them for travelling over Europe to have a more comfortable existence?

However, the host nations will have to embark on huge building programmes to accommodate new entrants otherwise all services will suffer for taxpayers right across the EU. Is improvement happening here in the UK? No. My GPs surgery is creaking at the seams - this a confession by the receptionist when telling me I couldn't see my GP for three weeks and would have to attend, and wait for hours, at the walk-in centre.

We have to help poorer nations by getting the people to remain where they are, with better services and outlooks, a brighter future, not by encouraging migration, opening borders and increasing the populations elsewhere.

The French, Germans, Swedish, Spanish and even the Greeks are alarmed, but it's all about power. Those allowing this to happen instead of helping poorer countries to update and improve their own systems are unknown to us. Who thinks flooding countries with migrants is a good idea? I am not in the least racist, nor are my fellow colleagues who also want out of the EU.

We see calamity on the horizon, division, unrest, poorer services for indigenous people all over Europe because of free movement. Not only that, right wing protest groups are forming. That horrifies me.

Those having to migrate shouldn't have to leave their homelands.. Their countries should be helped. We could do that by getting out of the EU and reallocating funds, as well as ensuring the priorities for British people are maintained.

June 23rd will be our legacy to our children. We do not want to remain in a power bloc, a creaking one at that. We need to reclaim our democracy, otherwise what sort of life are we condemning our children and grandchildren to? if we remain we are there for the remainder of our lifetimes, and we could be financing most of Europe if other members get out. A referendum about membership is being called for all over France, according to my friend who speaks fluent French. We can ignore all the signs, but if we do we have signed our democratic future away as well as a way of life we value.

Unions want out, for the sake of workers jobs, pay and conditions, fearing all the EU is doing is making bosses rich and driving down wages with cheap labour.

Money men, bankers etc, want to stay. Look at the Euro fiasco in Greece. Look at the fall of Spanish property prices. Bankers know best? Osborne and Cameron have recruited fat cats to sponsor them. They are TERRIFIED of a life outside the EU and losing their perks. It involves their power, wealth and positions.

I will back those people passionate about our country, our democracy and our security, who want us to get out of the EU. They have no personal reasons and no vested interests, but the wealthy do.

We have to get out. We won't get the chance to influence our future again.

Day6 well said. The most sensible thing I have read on this thread.

Money men couldn't care less. The UK is a tax haven and will stay so as long as Osborne and Cameron are running the country. That's absolutely nothing to do with the EU.

The money men DO care. They are terrified we'll leave the EU and their status and wealth will suffer.

Why do you think so many big business want to remain? Cheap labour, a policy driven by the EU means their profits rise they remain wealthy. It's not about workers, it's about bosses benefitting from the oppression/cheap labour provided by poorer migrants happy to accept appalling wages.

Everyone working suffers and bosses get richer. Why do you think so many Unions are concerned on behalf of working people in the UK and want out of the EU?

The UK stayed a tax haven under Labour too. And it's not the only tax haven in the world. Just abolishing tax haven-ness would not actually solve anything without causing significant problems as well. The world still isn't simple or black and white.

I've just been talking to a small group of old women (76–96 in age, plus me). One was a staunch Labourite, one was a Tory, and one was SNP. They all said they will vote out. And the thing they were most concerned about was democracy. Same as me in that respect. They may be old but they know what's even more important than the economic argument (which is all speculation anyway) because they understand better than younger people with little experience of the world just how important democracy is and just how important is being able to get rid of bureaucrats and politicians one doesn't like. Currently we can't do that with the vast majority of EU bods.

Yes, I have an idea which way I may go , my local MP is for out, saw her on BBC news a a few days back, sitting with Nigel Farage , she seems to favour the £ to the Euro.
Mick

I was living in Bulgaria when they went into the eu in 2007. They had many excellent catering and restaurant staff. Come 2007 many of them left to go to Spain/Italy/Uk. Some restaurants went out of business because of this.
I'm probably the only person on here who has been to Albania. If you think that Bulgaria is poor, it makes Albania look like utopia. There isn't much to be said for this country but if/when it joins the eu and the educated and skilled people leave it will be awful.
There's one thing I can tell you that will happen: The rich will get richer as they did in Bulgaria thanks to YOUR money.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/05/21/why-osborne-may-well-be-wrong-on-brexit-and-house-prices/

Petra, how much tax do you pay a year?
My share of tax going to the EU is £6.59 annually.
Somehow I do not think Albanians will get rich on my money.

Once again you have missed the point completely durhamjen I hope that most people understood that I meant EU money which is OUR money. I personally don't care if it's £6 or 6p. If you were to see the way the rich are spending YOUR money, you might think twice.
In the cooperative farm office in the small town where I lived in Bulgaria, €20,000,000 disappeared. This was one little town.

Have just read book 'Europe In or Out' by David Charter. Interesting read and I feel I have made effort to inform myself. However, an out vote us going to be a leap into the unknown. However, I think when I finally vote it will be 'out'.

Day6 - It is wrong to say that unions want out - exactly the opposite is true.

The TUC which represents British trade unions is concerned that leaving the EU would put at risk many vital workplace rights. - try googling www.tuc.org.uk/EUref

I have just been reading about workers rights - the EU improved workers rights no end with maternity pay and no discrimination - age, gender etc and also equal pay for work of equal value. Quite a lot of this UK objected to but eventually was forced to agree - what are the chances do you think of these rights being eroded again pretty quickly? Also holiday rights were enhanced - let us just hope they do not go as far as the USA when it comes to holiday rights as they are pretty well non existent out there. Very few days are given at all - depending on your job with a good big employer you can sometimes bargain about holidays as part of your pay deal and/or some will let you 'buy' an extra week - ie take a week without pay.

No I haven't, petra.
Brexiters, like you, are trying scaremongering.
How much money per person does the EU have from us to spend?
The UK's net contribution was £8.5 billion last year.
That works out at about £130 per person per year, less than the cost of a TV licence.
I happen to think we get a lot for that.
20,000,000 euros disappearing from one farm office is not the EU. It's corruption.

People are given big numbers and think that finance is difficult. Like lots of other things, if you break it down and make it simple, it isn't nearly so scary.

By the way, I know the way the rich are spending my money. That's why I would rather focus on tax dodging than the EU.
Do you know how much of the tax you pay is your UK contribution to the EU?
Easy to work out if you can't find out. It's 0.6% of the tax you pay.

That's what I thought, varian and Welshwife.
In fact the reason Corbyn gives for wanting to stay in is because the workers would have more rights if we stay in than if we leave and are ruled by just Tories.

One of the things that I find quite terrifying is if the vote is Brexit, then we will have the lunatic far right ruling this country. I am absolutely dreading that happening and look at my children and grandchildren and quake for their future. Even if I was for leaving the EU I would hesitate and think more than once about the future. I am not sure that I would vote for that future.

durhamjen I know it's corruption, I lived with it. My point, I suppose is, the eu knew this was, still is happening. The poor Bulgarians don't understand why their schools/hospitals/roads are not improving when they know how much has come into the country. They had so much hope that their lives would change for the better when they went in but the corruption escalated.