‘Should we be in or out when EU collapses?’

Should we leave or remain in the European Union? This could well be one of the most important questions of our time.

Unlike recent elections this is not about voting for one party or another. We have the somewhat strange situation of politicians from opposite sides of the political spectrum standing alongside each other fighting for the same things.

The Remain camp will have you believe that if we leave the EU thousands of businesses and millions of jobs will be lost; we’ll all be financially worse off; exports to the EU will cease; imports from the EU will cease (sorry but no BMWs!); the sun will set on June 23 never to be seen again; famine and a plague of locusts will engulf us as Godzilla rises from the Thames to destroy the Houses of Parliament (OK, so maybe the last bit sounds like a good idea!).

I don’t know about you but I’m kind of getting fed up with the almost constant stream of unsubstantiated rubbish we have been getting. Where are the facts? What is the truth? Who are we to believe?

Well the truth is this: nobody knows what will happen if we leave and nobody knows what will happen if we stay. 

Anyone who states that jobs will be lost if we leave the EU is intentionally trying to mislead; there is no evidence what so ever to suggest that any jobs, apart from the 73 MEP’s and one UK Commissioner, will be lost as a result of leaving the EU.

We do however live and work in a global economy. Businesses relocate all the time. We have seen in recent years long established businesses from the UK, Germany and other EU countries move to the likes of India and China, these moves have nothing to do with whether the UK leaves the EU or not and will continue either way.

So there is no guarantee of jobs if we remain. Indeed unemployment is rising right across Europe with youth unemployment nearing 50 per cent in some countries and even the EU powerhouse of France has youth unemployment at 25 per cent. Could this be the future if we remain?

We are told that the EU has kept peace in Europe. We won’t mention the breakup of Yugoslavia and the many tens of thousands that died in that conflict of course, but we are also being told that war would breakout if the UK left. Surely that means that the UK has kept the peace in Europe not the EU? And is the EU really so fragile that it would fall to pieces if we left ?

If it is this fragile then maybe we need to get out before it collapses of its own accord, after all, over the last 10 years we have seen a steady rise in the level of discontent with the EU right across the continent.

Many other countries want an in/out referendum as well; Germany, France, the Netherlands and Greece to name but a few. If membership is really so wonderful why would so many other countries wish to have the opportunity to leave?

The late, great Tony Benn said “If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system” – so true. But where is the democracy in the EU?

Not a single member of the government of the EU has been elected to their position by the people of the EU, therefore they cannot be unelected, and are not answerable to the people. So who are they answerable to? Large corporations? The big banks?

The EU commission themselves have stated that in excess of €120 Billion disappears each year in the EU due to corruption, but they refuse to allow their own institutions to be independently investigated.

This level of corruption cannot be maintained indefinitely and will have a massively adverse effect on the Euro and all the counties that use it. The EU will collapse and when it does it will trigger a massive recession the like of which we have never seen.

The question we all need to ask ourselves is this, do you want to be on the inside of the EU when it collapses or the outside?

Whether to stay or leave, the decision is in your hands. Whatever you decide, please make sure you vote.

Paul Turner was Ukip’s candidate in the 2015 Bristol mayor elections.