Foreign Secretary: Brexit would have "very negative impact on the UK"

Conservative Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond - who has a longstanding reputation as a eurosceptic, has said some rather interesting things to the House of Commons Europe scrutiny committee: 

"The exit of a major country, the second-largest economy in the European Union, would have potentially very serious ramifications for the European Union and what its future looked like. But a British exit would also have a very significant impact on the UK.

It would require us to undo decades of thinking about how we drive and power the UK economy, how we ensure the standard of living of British people, how we protect national security.

I am sure, certainly in the short term, it would have some very negative impact on the UK.

How we would be able to regroup and move forward would be something the history books will ultimately determine.

But at the moment it looks like a very big set of challenges that the UK would face"

16 and 17 year olds should have a vote in the referendum!

Neil Carmichael, Conservative MP for Stroud wrote in City AM newspaper yesterday, calling for 16 and 17 year olds to get the vote in the EU referendum.

Neil is the Chairman of the Education Select Committee and also the Conservative Group for Europe.

He says: it's the UK's young people who will be most affected by a Brexit, and that's why the

vote should be extended to 16 and 17-year-olds.

Full article here

West Hampstead survey shows strong support for staying in EU – but many still making up their minds

Local campaigning to keep Britain in Europe will be a mixture of activity within political parties and other groups, and cross-party activity.  Here local Lib Dem campaigner Janet Grauberg reports on a recent – and rather encouraging - survey undertaken by local LibDems:

"Camden Liberal Democrats surveyed West Hampstead residents in October about their views on whether the UK should remain or leave the EU. There was overwhelming support for staying in, with quite a few saying they did not know yet. The main reasons for staying were because Britain being in the EU was good for jobs and business, because it made it easier to travel across borders for work, visiting family or for holidays and because being part of the EU contributed to peace and human rights. The main reasons given for leaving related to border control, control of sovereignty and the costs of the EU contribution. This was a small survey but it was overwhelmingly in support of Britain staying in the EU. We noticed that younger people were more positive about Europe, and there were still a lot of people still making up their mind. We'll be repeating the survey in November (Saturday 28th 11-1230 at outside 156 West End Lane) and over coming months to keep listening to the views of Camden residents". 

Remain     36

Reasons:

Business/Jobs 21

Travel for work/family/holidays 21

Tackling climate change/environment 11

Tackling international crime 5

Peace/Human Rights 21

Workers Rights 8

Farming Subsidies 1

Leave              4

Reasons 

Control borders/reduce immigration 1

Better for business/less regulation 1

Control sovereignty 1

Don't pay expensive EU contribution 1

It's a gravy train for failed politicians

Right to fish in our waters

Don't Know     6