NOT TOO BAD AN OUTCOME

Students debates are a bit like the number 39 bus, you wait ages for one then two turn up together.

Last week I attended a student debate in the far north of Staffordshire at a very nice college, which had a high quality of students. This was an all party debate and I was there to represent UKIP – which is the only political party to declare that student loans and tuition fees should be scrapped. Despite some good questions from the students there was little feed-back from them as to what they thought of the answers, and the political parties we represented.

However, yesterday (27th September 2011) was an interesting afternoon when I took part in a debate on the EU which had been organised by Civitas. From time to time they contact me and ask if I can give talks on the EU or take part in schools and college debates.

I arrived early as this event in Halesowen was not too far for me to travel to, where I was met by the lecturer who had organised the debate with Civitas and was chairing the event. While waiting for my pro-EU opponent to turn up as the lecture theatre filled with students, we were joined by two other lecturers, one of which made it quite clear she was extremely pro-EU, as was the other lecturer who joined us.

Considering this I thought the debate was going to be a bit tough as the students had obviously been taught the EU was a force for good, which was the wording of the motion we were to debate.

When we got started in front of a very well attended young audience, my opponent kicked off first and waffled on all with the usual claptrap about the EU preventing wars in Europe, Britain is too small to stand on its own against the growing industrial might of China and India and, in a roundabout way, he said we need the EU to bring in laws to protect us from our own elected Government! So as far as these pro-EU personages go it is fine and dandy a non-elected foreign organisation can overrule our elected Parliament and Government. To me tht is an occupation by the EU of Britain and the other EU nations, just as most of Europe was occupied by the German's in World War Two.

I hit back with the loss of democracy and that it is wrong that people on foreign shores can override our own elected Government, also if the EU has prevented wars in Europe, how come since 1945 we haven’t had a war with Japan that does not interfere in our business or make laws for us. That, after all, is the obvious conclusion when the pro-EU brigade make such ludicrous statements.

The students returned to the brainwashing that we were too small a nation globally to stand up for ourselves, although the state of the euro was a weakness which I played on. I did not say it during the debate, but this constant drivel that Britain, which despite our current deficit and pretty useless coalition Government, is still a major player in the world, I compare this drip, drip, drip message that we are too week and too small to stand up for ourselves to the chapter in the Lord of the Rings where the leader of Rohan’s mind has been poisoned by Grima Wormtongue, who was portrayed as an agent of the enemy.

If they keep repeating this dispiriting mantra long enough, like the King of the Rohan, I think the EU hope it will be believed and resistance removed. Also, like the King of Rohan, we need a sharp jolt to wake us up and realise it is the EU that needs us, not the other way round and in its parasitical way it is bleeding us dry.

Finally, after much debate and some pretty good questions, we came to the bit I was dreading – the vote. The lecturer asked all those who were in favour of the motion to show their hands and it was a sizeable vote. My thought was I have lost, then came the show of hands against the motion which looked about the same number. At this point the vote was redone so a count could be taken and a draw was declared.

For an event such as this to result in a draw, in a college where there is obliviously a pro-EU factor amongst the lecturers, I thought a draw was not too bad an outcome – it’s a pity I didn’t do better though.