1. personal national identity is a complex thing but I can confirm I feel both British and European. I'm proud of much of our culture and I'm proud of our ability to influence within the EU and the world. The UK has a lot of influence in the EU and by not being economically tied in the way we are now, we would lose influence and the ability to be taken as seriously when shaping EU laws, which will affect our trade with the EU whether in or out.
2. Whether it is true or not that more of our export trade comes from outside the EU is not the right question to ask. Would you not trade with Tokyo just because we got more from New York? The EU contains some of the largest and most developed economies on the planet and therefore everyone should see that the EU is vital, no matter where the other important economies are - it accounts for billions of our trade. Being part of the EU does not prevent our non-EU trade. In fact by being closely linked to some of the world's other most significant economies (such as Germany and France) it helps our trade position with non-EU countries - greater bargaining power. No credible Leave campaigner has tried to pretend trading with the EU is not extremely important.
3. The economic ties between member states of the EU, helps maintain peace. It might seem highly unlikely any country of the EU would go to war with each other, but they could easily retaliate economically and refuse to cooperate or collaborate in other ways if we weren't so closely linked through the economic guarantees of the free trade principles. Let's also not forget that the close working relationships required by EU membership is vital for our ability to work together to tackle extremism. Leaving the EU will damage relations and could realistically make collaboration harder.
4. The EU has also helped provide other significant protections in the UK such as workers' rights, women's rights and environmental protection. They not only serve as a minimum protection, but they help prevent a race to the bottom across the EU, where certain standards of fairness are required as a minimum. For example, if one EU country reduces certain rights, the UK could end up reducing rights to ensure businesses continue to invest in the UK. To undervalue these benefits is to undervalue the importance of making life bearable for millions of hard working people. Certain Leave campaigners have suggested there are too many workers' rights.
5. The fact the EU is struggling financially should not be a reason to run away from it. Imagine if the world had said that to the UK in our darkest hour? It certainly wasn't the EU that did that to us, it was our banking sector. The fact stands that we continue to generate billions in trade with the EU, as well as being one of the largest (if not the largest) recipient of important EU funding such as funding for scientific research in our universities.
6. People are concerned that immigration results in lower wages. However, the potential loss in trade for the UK if we left the EU (such as if we were subjected to tariffs) would mean a loss of jobs because there would be less business. In which case, not only would there be fewer jobs for workers to compete over (and thus giving businesses bargaining power even if there's less immigration) but the Government would have more freedom to remove certain workers' rights which are protected under EU law. Then there's the fact that to have free trade treaties with other countries we would probably need to have free movement anyway. Of course, free movement actually means the right to come and work. In general terms, if you don't work you can't stay. Immigrants contribute greatly both economically and socially and are far less likely to claim benefits according to the statistics. The head of the NHS has publicly said that the NHS would be in crisis without all the hard working immigrants who help it run. And I agree with the comments that say if we provided fairer opportunities and education to British people, they would be far better placed to beat the competition. That should be our priority in any event.
7. Obama didn't say we would be at the back of the queue if we left the EU for no reason, it was because he knows our ability to enter into meaningful trade deals is stronger when we come as a package with other heavy hitters. Further, the UK won't simply always or even often enter 'free' trade deals with non-EU countries in any event, out of legitimate fear of issues like trade dumping. On that note, the UK's economy is very diverse and closer inspection shows a more complicated landscape than just, for example, financial services. There are lots of forms of exports and our services sector is a broad church and not easily defined.
8. As for environmental rights, I know for a fact that there are some powerful lobbyists who want to weaken the protections afforded by the EU. The UK's environment has been improved in multiple ways by EU laws, such as improvement of British beaches and air conditions - issues we need to continue to work on.
Conclusion: far from uncertainty, the EU does provide a number of certain great benefits. I hope the UK chooses to be brave and uses it clout and innovation to stay in the EU and make it better and better.
