There will only be a few days left to register to vote in the Leave/Remain UK/EU referendum on Thursday 23rd June.
I should make clear that if you are already registered to vote, you do not need to re-register to have your say in the referendum. If you are not on the electoral roll, you have until Tuesday 7th June to make sure you are eligible to vote in the referendum. To register to vote please visit: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
In recent weeks, I have been pleased to take part in a number of debates and discussions on the referendum, both in the media and in person.
I recently took part in a debate organised by the Crawley & Gatwick Chamber of Commerce. The audience was comprised of some of Crawley’s best and brightest business people, entrepreneurs – and crucially, employers.
Before the debate, half the audience were in favour of remain – after the debate had concluded, that number had fallen, and more people in the room were in favour of leaving the European Union.
The EU has too much control over the British economy. Only 6 per cent of businesses export to the EU, but they are all caught up in EU red tape. If we Vote Leave, we can take back control and run our economy in the interests of millions of small businesses and entrepreneurs. We would also take back control over trade, so we could do deals with fast growing countries like China and India. Switzerland which is outside the EU has already concluded free trade deals with China and Canada – the EU has not so this harms British business.
Some of the claims made by the Remain campaign remind me of what supporters of the Euro said in the previous decade – that our country could not prosper unless we signed up to the single currency. They were wrong then, and are wrong now – look what happened to the Eurozone with mass unemployment still in those states!
Our strength as a trading nation should be using our unique global connections and being a conduit to our geographical proximity to the continent. Let us not lock ourselves in to an economically failing, increasingly undemocratic EU but broaden our horizons once again – we are the world’s fifth largest economy after all.
Let’s Vote Leave, and take back control.