An EU Referendum on June 23rd

This week in my Crawley Observer column below, I have written about the EU Referendum that we Conservatives are delivering, as we promised. The picture is one we used before the general election, when Labour and the LibDems were denying the British people their say. Whatever they say now, don't forget the fact that Labour and the LibDems didn't want you to have this vote at all.

Conservatives believe in democracy and deliver on our promises  

Last weekend was historic in modern political times. The cynics have been proved wrong and as we promised, David Cameron has delivered an In/Out EU referendum which will take place on June 23rd. We wanted to deliver this referendum in the last Parliament but were repeatedly blocked by Labour and LibDem MPs who outnumbered Conservative MPs. It took a majority Conservative government to finally give the British people their say on whether we should remain in or leave the European Union.

It was January 1975 when there was a referendum on EEC membership and you would now have to be aged 59 or over to have been able to vote back then. We have a once in a generation EU referendum and I urge everyone that is eligible in Crawley (British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens) to vote and have your say on Britain’s future.

All of Crawley’s political leaders should publicly state their positions. If there was no deal at all, I would vote for Leave. The deal looks like good progress and until I study it, I will remain undecided. I will examine all the facts carefully before announcing at the Crawley Debate taking place on March 8th at the Hawth, which way I intend to vote.

Labour have been found very much wanting on the EU. Not only did Labour pull out all the stops to try and deny the British people a vote on EU membership in the first place, their Crawley councillors and candidates in the upcoming local elections would dogmatically vote to stay in the EU on the existing terms, without the deal that David Cameron achieved. I am certain that Labour councillors and candidates would happily vote for ever-closer political union, no toughening up on migrant benefits and no controls on immigration.

Whichever way the referendum goes, Britain will now stop ever-closer union and will toughen up on immigration and migrant benefits. That makes me already see the EU referendum as a victory, having wanted to see improvements in these areas and having campaigned for years for the British people to have their say.