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EU REFERENDUM<br />
...Or should we go?<br />
Maria Caulfield, Conservative MP for <strong>Lewes</strong><br />
As I write this, we enter the key period before every<br />
person eligible to vote in British elections will -<br />
thanks to the pledge within this Government’s manifesto<br />
- have the chance to either vote for Britain to<br />
leave or remain within the EU.<br />
After the election, the Prime Minister set about<br />
negotiating with other EU member states in order<br />
to secure reforms to Britain’s membership. Agreements<br />
were reached in March after a lengthy period<br />
of negotiation. They present a welcome step in the<br />
right direction, however, I feel due to the reluctance<br />
of other EU nations, they fail to go far enough.<br />
I have made it my mission to visit as many businesses<br />
as possible, both big and small, to chat about issues<br />
affecting them. It soon became clear that there was<br />
one concern for the majority of those businesses: the<br />
growing wave of bureaucracy, mainly from Brussels.<br />
Whether it be new regulations relating to equipment<br />
used in a <strong>Lewes</strong> hairdressers, or the failing<br />
Common Agricultural Policy which so negatively<br />
affects our farmers surrounding the town, it soon<br />
became clear that our EU membership was having<br />
a profoundly damaging impact on those putting so<br />
much into the local economy.<br />
We need only look a little further afield within the<br />
constituency, at those fishermen working out of Newhaven,<br />
to see an example of how little the reforms<br />
will benefit the UK. A once-thriving fishing town,<br />
Newhaven has seen its in-shore fishing industry<br />
decimated by the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).<br />
Just before Christmas, I had fishermen expressing<br />
their overwhelming concerns, as, overnight, with no<br />
warning, the EU banned Sea Bass fishing in our waters.<br />
Men who had just spent thousands of pounds<br />
on new nets were now letting crew go because their<br />
business had just been closed down. What could I<br />
do about this as the local Member of Parliament?<br />
Nothing. The decision was made in Brussels.<br />
These concerns in most instances would be enough<br />
to convince most to vote ‘Leave’ on the 23rd <strong>June</strong>.<br />
However, there is another, for some even more<br />
pressing concern, which relates to the clear disengagement<br />
that the EU has with the British electorate.<br />
Very few members of the public are aware of<br />
who represents them within the European Parliament,<br />
and even fewer seem to care.<br />
Of course, this leaves a breeding ground for unaccountability<br />
with an end result of policy that profoundly<br />
impacts upon the lives of those within the<br />
UK being steered in directions completely opposite<br />
to Britain’s interests. Such an activity wouldn’t be acceptable<br />
at any level of Government within the UK,<br />
so why should it be acceptable within the EU?<br />
On the 23rd <strong>June</strong>, we have a once in a life time<br />
chance to map our future as a country. No one is<br />
saying it will be easy but for the first time in nearly<br />
40 years we will be masters of our own destiny, part<br />
of Europe but not governed by the EU.<br />
@mariacaulfield<br />
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