EU Referendum Debate

I had an opportunity earlier today to attend the North East Economic Forum (NEEF) and the topic was the EU Referendum at the Premier Riverside Stadium (UTB) - To say It was thought provoking and clear cut I would of course be lying, nothing about this EU Referendum is simple and easy to understand.

The Dual was between Northern Powerhouse Minister James Wharton MP (Leave) and Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson (Remain) and the independent man in the middle was non other than the BBC Political Editor for the North East Richard Moss (Sunday Politics NE&Cumbria)

The first speaker up was Phil Wilson MP and he set out the stall for why Britain must remain in the European Union with an opening statement of "It will be a mistake of monumental proportion if we decide to leave the EU" and "Time to play to our strengths" he went on to state a fact by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that if "Britain left the EU we would have to renegotiate with all 161 members of the WTO" this taking a long time which could put Britain into a further recession.

Mr Wilson went on to state that "58% of trade in the North East is with the European Union" he then went onto outline some key investment success stories that have been made with EU funding and asked the simple question of "Where is the money going to come from?"

Then stepped up local member of Parliament for Stockton South James Wharton who set out his stall in a polished statement with his opening line of "This is the final chance we have to leave the European Union" and that the referendum was solely about the EU and that "Europe is shrinking" with a "Zero economic Growth" that we could prosper outside of the EU because "British products are the best in the world"

Mr Wharton was clear that "There is a risk going forward" but that we "Seeded to much control to the EU" and "We need to take back our country" but at the end of the day "Its about choice" and it is up to the people of Britain to make that choice.

After both speakers had there opening statements it was handed over to the floor for members to ask questions, it goes without saying that the room was a majority of Labour support and with that the first question asked was to Mr Wharton "Will you step down from your role should we vote for Brexit" in which Mr Wharton replied the easy and simple answer is this "No ... Of course not" he then went on to say "We can prosper in the EU, but we can prosper more out of it"

In what seemed a rushed second question a member wanted to know "What is the future for our region" - Mr Wilson replied that the "EU has invested more than £1bn into the North East and the simple reason is that we have the workforce and the skills are second to none" to which Mr Wharton replied "EU money is our money"

Other topics where slightly touched upon including Immigration, figures from the House of Commons showed that "8% of our population is made up of other nationalities" and to put immigration into prospective there is "1.1m citizens from the EU living in Spain, in which 70% are British" the British contribution to the Spanish economy is £2.5bn

Both Speakers agreed that immigration was an issue, however as you would imagine both had a different way of dealing with the issue. Mr Wharton warns us to leave and Mr Wilson put forward a case to work with other EU Countries to stop the flow of migration, he went on to say "Immigration is a big issue, we do have control of our borders, more come here from outside the EU, than those within the EU.

Steel works and Chinese dumping of steel was mentioned Mr Wharton said "Due to SSI not selling to the European Union, the union could not intervene" to help the steel works in Redcar.

I hope this has been OK, especially with the week I have had, I have tried to be neutral in the above write up but I can honestly say that I will still be voting to remain in the European Union on the fact that here on Teesside we have done rather well from EU Funding and in my opinion I still can't see the government investing the same or anywhere near to it.