Helen Grant MP
By Helen Grant MP
Our country faces one of the most important choices in our history on June 23rd: Whether to leave or to remain a member of the EU.
The huge difficulty with this referendum is that there are so many facts, figures and percentages being bandied around by each side, and most of the people I have talked to see that almost everything is arguable and nothing is absolutely provable.
There seems acceptance from both camps that to leave will have an adverse economic effect, certainly in the short term, but this for me is about much wider issues too.
Racism and discrimination still exist, although sadly, to many these issues are completely invisible. The EU has an important role to play in the process of fighting discrimination and promoting equality, and already uses a strong set of race equality and employment equality directives in that battle. I think the EU organisations and institutions are now ready to flex their muscles and deal with non-compliant discriminating States, acting as a check and balance against some of the hard right-wing Parties that are gaining dangerous traction in certain countries.
Remaining in Europe, with the free movement provisions, will mean it is less likely that young people from minority backgrounds will grow up in isolation, as I did. I grew up in the far northern city of Carlisle in the 60s and 70s, when, for a while, I was the only person in the whole city with a darker skin, and that brought a number of issues with it. Young people need togetherness and community and to learn from an early age to celebrate and enjoy difference.
Culturally diverse voters represent some of the most business-orientated members of British society and over 100,000 UK business export to the EU’s single market of 500 million people, enjoying tariff-free access. With half of our exports going to the EU, supporting three million linked jobs, it is the best free trade agreement available to our country in the entire world.
EU membership also enables our businesses to trade with the many other countries outside Europe, including 90 percent of Commonwealth countries with whom agreements are in already place, or are under negotiation / consideration.
Also, being in the EU allows us to help Commonwealth countries, such as influencing the direction of EU overseas development assistance to sub-Saharan African countries, to fight poverty, protect women and girls and halt the spread of AIDS.
What will actually happen if we leave the EU? No-one knows. To me, it would be a massive leap in the dark, in a world that is dangerous and changing. With Putin in the East, Daesh in the Middle East, and North Korea in the Far East; this is not a time to divide.
These reasons for remaining in the EU are hugely relevant to the diverse communities of our country, alongside the many other broad and equally compelling arguments for Britain being stronger, safer and better off within the EU.
But unless you actually vote, whatever you believe or want for your future will not be recognized; and if you want to vote you must be registered. In 2010, only 1 in every 14 white people were not registered compared with 1 in every 4 Black African people.
The main reason for non-registration is because many people from the wider Commonwealth don’t realise they are entitled to vote. In fact, in the UK, all qualifying citizens of the Commonwealth are eligible.
So many of our brothers and sisters gave their lives to allow us the right to vote. We must remember and respect them and use their legacy for the benefit of our families and their children.
And so I urge readers to please check your eligibility, and please register as a voter before Tuesday 7th June. Then go to vote in the EU referendum on Thursday June 23rd.’
* Helen Grant MP is the British Member of Parliament representing Maidstone and The Weald. This is the essence of her recent speech at the Christ Faith Tabernacle (CFT) Cathedral, Woolwich, before 30 church leaders and over 1000 churchgoers.