AN INTERESTING MORNING

On the morning of Wednesday 10th March I drove down to Hereford to attended and take part in a debate about EU membership at the Hereford College of Technology.  

My opponent was a Liberal Democrat and we were both asked to speak for fifteen minutes to a room full of students about why we were either for, or against, EU membership. I was asked to be the first speaker on and given fifteen minutes to give my reasons why I am opposed to EU membership and my opponent followed with his fifteen minutes.  

In my talk I concentrated on how the EU undermines and is destroying our Democracy, how unacountable the EU is and how many laws it makes and inflicts upon us, I also highlighted the EU arrest warrant and the plight of Andrew Symeou who is currently wasting away in a Greek jail awaiting trial on little more than circumstantial evidence.  My opponent spoke about the single market and unifying standards across the EU.  We were asked questions and made our points then the teacher asked the students to write down 'Yes' if they wanted to stay in the EU, 'No' if they wanted to leave or 'Abstain' if they were undecided.

The result was 8 abstentions, 3 yes and 14 very satisfactory no's, which naturally pleased me.  When asked why they voted the way they did the general consensus from the students was that most of what we had spoken about had gone over their heads but they felt we should not have EU laws imposed upon us.  One girl also made the point we were giving the EU all this money and yet our solidiers in Afghanistan were short of funds for vital equipment.  All in all, an interesting morning in Hereford.