I was delighted to be at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School this week to debate Britain's membership of the EU.
Also taking part in the debate, hosted by Battle Of Ideas, were: journalist Rod Liddle; Shepherd Neame's Jonathan Neame; Adrian Pabst of the University of Kent and Rob Killick, author of the UK After The Recession blog.
It was fascinating to hear a range of views on this important subject, and I look forward to having many more conversations about it in the run-up to the EU referendum.
QE school is often in my thoughts - and my inbox - because I'm campaigning for fairer funding for Kent's schools. The best thing about the evening was seeing the hall packed with pupils who’d given up an evening to listen to us talk about politics.
It was great to see young people so engaged with the issues of the day and there were some really penetrating and sparky questions. Even the perennially grumpy Rod Liddle, whose latest book is called Selfish Whining Monkeys, managed to raise a smile!
Here’s what I said....
One reason I stood for Parliament is because I want to influence what sort of country we live in, in five, ten or fifteen years’ time.
I want the UK to be a good place to live. A safe country in a safer world. A country which gives you opportunities – education, a good job, a decent standing of living.
A country with a strong economy.
A country with a positive culture, where people are optimistic, empowered, open, tolerant, compassionate. A country we can be proud of.
It’s from that premise, I come to the question: what relationship should we have with Europe?
What relationship with Europe would make us safer, would help our economy, would foster a culture of optimism, openness and empowerment?
For me it’s not an ideological question, but pragmatic one. Politics is the art of the possible.
The choice we face is not a choice between the status quo and some ideal relationship with Europe all in the UK’s favour; but between a renegotiated version of our current membership terms and whatever terms the EU would dictate to us if we opt to leave.
So what would leaving the EU mean for the sort of country I would like Britain to be in future?
- Leaving the EU would make the UK less safe.
The European Union was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War. Europe had been torn apart.
As the dust settled, European leaders, including Winston Churchill, were determined to prevent another war between Europe’s great powers.
These days we take it for granted the strong relationships between France, Germany and ourselves.
But listening to an interview with a Battle of Britain pilot on Sunday, who described ducking and diving, perhaps in the skies over our head, I was reminded that peace is by no means a given.
The EU brings European countries closer together; it makes us better able to face common problems and common threats. The influx of migrants from the Middle East now, for instance, is a shared problem.
And very practically, if we vote to leave the EU, the Scottish Nationalists are threatening to hold another independence referendum. This would likely result in a vote to leave the Union, which would have all sorts of security implications, including the location of trident and the future of our Armed Forces.
- Leaving the EU risks damaging our economy.
Europe is the UK’s largest trading partner, 45% of our exports go to Europe, enabled by the single market.
Many businesses locate in the UK as a ‘jumping off’ point for mainland Europe, getting the best of the English language and access to EU markets.
In a survey, 63% of businesses said they supported Britain's membership of the EU.
The think tank Open Europe did a detailed analysis and found that, though in the best case leaving Europe could be marginally positive, the most likely impact of leaving would be the economy shrinking by 2.2%.
That’s despite the ‘red tape’ and bureaucracy that the EU brings with it.
Though people argue we would be free to abandon lots of restrictive regulation, the reality is if we want to trade with EU, we’ll have to comply. Like Norway which, in the words of its own Government, just “downloads policy and legislation from Brussels”.
The advantage we have is that we do have influence over EU regulations. Our farmers benefit from our influence on agricultural legislation – which is why most local farmers I’ve spoken to want us to stay in.
The EU recognises the burden of regulation it has created and it’s trying to do something about it. We have a golden opportunity now to renegotiate business regulation and push the EU in a different direction.
- How would leaving the EU affect our culture?
I said I want a country with a positive culture, where people are optimistic, open, tolerant and compassionate. A country we can be proud of. The free movement of people builds relationships across countries but it also triggers resentment. So we need to control it.
I worry about the message leaving the EU sends to the world – we would be pulling up the drawbridge.
We mustn’t be ‘little Englanders’. We need strong relationships with other countries which share our values. We need to work together to solve common problems like mass migration from the Middle East.
With the referendum on membership on the horizon, the Prime Minister has a golden opportunity to negotiate for better terms. And with Europe keen to keep Britain part of the club, every prospect of being successful.