#EUreferendum for young people

Last night I watched a young people EU debate. Of course young people are optimistic and compassionate - they should be.

What emerged from the debate seemed to be 5 important points :-

• While at first the audience wanted to look outwards to Europe rather than be little Englanders the argument was succinctly made that the EU is in fact fortress Europe - and makes it difficult/impossible for Africa and countries globally to engage with us through trade by putting up barriers to protect French farmers etc. The audience clapped vigorously when the penny dropped that voting out would give us the chance to be "global" citizens again rather than self serving EU members.
• On migration it is ended up being better understood that if we are in the EU we have to make it much harder for non EU migrants to come here from sheer weight of numbers. By voting leave we can devise an immigration policy that is fair to all citizens in the world (and not biased to EU citizens) - and will give the UK the opportunity to manage numbers and take people in based on what they can offer relative to what we need or based on compassion.
• Project fear from the remain campaign - argues the opportunity to travel will be badly affected. This is nonsense of course. Tourism is very important to all countries and the British Passport is held in very high regard. Even if visas are required in some instances they will be easy to come by.
• Democracy. While this was not particularly high on the young peoples agenda when they started to consider the arguments it was evident that they understood freedom comes from being able to make your own laws and change your government periodically if you do not like the laws they have made. In the EU we cannot do that - and an ever more federalised EU will diminish our democracy even further. When you really think about it (and not take democracy for granted) this is a key issue for the future. Democracy is hard won and many vested interests will grab it from you if they can.
• There are short term risks to trade by leaving - but there are just as many risks by staying and tying ourselves with the EU project. The EU is in an economic mess - with massive debt and unemployment issues in the south. While we have some opt outs as part of the club we will have practical liabilities. Europe is the only continent not growing. In the medium term our futures will be much more secure trading beyond Europe.

If  I was a young person I would vote leave - definitely.