Britain Stronger In Europe launch meeting in Camden - Monday 1st February - you're invited!

On Monday 1^st February at 8pm, we're inviting friends and neighbours to come to Martha’s Bar underneath the Washington Pub in Belsize Park for an event to talk about the work being done by the ‘Stronger In’ campaign. We're volunteering with Stronger In – an organisation working to make sure Britain remains stronger in Europe – and we wanted to bring together friends who we know also care about these issues, to talk about what’s happening in our community and about how we can get involved

We're excited that in Camden lots of people have said they want to help and get involved in the campaign to make sure we win the referendum to keep Britain in Europe in our national interest.

Light refreshments will be available to buy, and you’ll also have an opportunity to meet other people who care about these issues and who are committed to working locally to inform and persuade people about Europe - which is so vital to opportunities and prosperity in Camden, London and for the whole of the UK. 

Date: Monday 1^st February

Time: 8pm

Location: Martha’s Bar, The Washington, Englands Lane, NW3 4UE

Let us know you’ll be there by emailing andrew.marshall27@btopenworld.com

Hope to see you there!

Andrew Dismore backs Camden in Europe and writes on the Referendum

We're delighted Andrew Dismore, Labour GLA member for Barnet and Camden is backing our cross party local efforts as we get closer the referendum campaign.

His new article on the issues he sees as most important for Britain in the Referendum decision can be read on his website here

Farage and Anti-EU forces won't give any answers as to what would happen in case of Brexit

Here's Andrew Marshall's letter in the CNJ this week.

A divorce from the EU after 43 years would be a messy business

THIS year looks likely to bring the EU referendum and, no doubt, by the end of the year people in Camden will be heartily sick of the debate. 

But it matters desperately, because leaving the EU after four decades would bring big, unquantifiable, risks for the way the UK economy works. Tellingly, Nigel Farage and the anti-EU brigade won’t answer some basic questions about what would happen if we left. 

Would the UK become a member of the European Economic Area, like Norway, which would give it access to the single market but force us to obey all the rules but without having any say?  

Would the UK be able to secure a trade special deal with the EU like Switzerland? 

Both these options involve free movement of labour, by the way, and financial contributions. Or would we just have rely on being a World Trade Organisation member, so trading with the EU in the way that, say, Brazil does; which would mean significant constraints on our huge trade in services especially? 

The reason the anti-EU campaign won’t tell us is that they don’t know what could be secured, just as Alex Salmond was unable to answer the currency question in the Scottish referendum. 

What’s certain is that in those circumstances, the UK would not be in the room when the other 27 states were working out what to offer.    

Our bargaining power would be weak, because while the EU takes nearly half UK exports we account for only about a tenth of exports from other EU countries to us. No country has ever left the EU – a divorce after 43 years would be messy and not a risk we should lightly take.

We at Camden in Europe look forward to debating this anywhere, any time, across the borough.

CLLR ANDREW MARSHALL (CONSERVATIVE)
Camden in Europe

Lessons of 1975 referendum for the Remain campaign

Havard Hughes, a local Conservative supporter of Camden in Europe and the Remain campaign, writes today in City AM here on the lessons of the 1975 referendum for the Conservatives.

Some excellent new year reading on EU from Prospect magazine

There are some excellent articles on EU issues on the Prospect magazine site (and of course I recommend subscribing..)

Here eminent economist George Magnus puts it plainly:

" a vote to leave would have deleterious effects on the UK economy, business confidence, foreign investment in the UK—including the much-vaunted influx of Chinese investment capital. Sterling would probably take a plunge, and the cost to jobs of all this would dwarf the excited and false consciousness estimates made by Brexit enthusiasts over the costs to Britain of EU membership and immigration."

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blogs/george-magnus/the-year-when-politics-will-trump-economics

And here leading pollster (and local resident) Peter Kellner talks about how the Remain campaign can best put a positive case:

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blogs/peter-kellner/eu-referendum-how-to-make-the-case-for-europe