How will you vote in the EU referendum?

Jalima, I do not think that MPs know the pros and cons of leaving/staying.
What chance have the rest of us? As said on Question Time last night, it will be fear and immigration that will decide people's votes.

Cameron is asking for a deal over migrant benefits if immigration is a problem for social welfare. In my opinion, it's Cameron who is the problem for welfare, as it's his government which is cutting and cutting.
Obviously the less money there is in welfare benefits, the greater the proportion that migrants might be able to take.

John Redwood thinks the idea is a bad joke.

www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/jan/29/eu-migration-emergency-brake-deal-is-a-bad-joke-says-john-redwood-audio

I will be voting to stay in. For the sake of the business community and our manufacturing industry, and because I do not want our government to be able to disregard laws put in place to safeguard our employment rights, health and safety, etc. Also, I want my grandchildren to have the huge benefit that I had of free movement throughout Europe. To clarify, I mean to live and work where they choose, not just to go on holiday (though the thought of queuing as non-EU members whenever we venture to Europe on holiday does not appeal either!). To those who say they are proud to be English, British, whatever, well so am I. I am also proud to be a European.

In the programme Wanted Down Under, when the family wants to m,ove to Australia, they always show ordinary families comparing the cost of their regularly food budget between UK and Australia. And there is not much difference.

WilmaKnickersfit - I used to think too that staying in the EU helped to avoid war and conflict.
Sadly, in my opinion it is now the opposite.

I am concerned about the fact that most UK folk who will be given the right to vote do not really understand the pros and cons of leaving/staying.

That is my worry too Elsie10.

It will be interesting to see if the inevitable polls will show a decisive contrast between in/out in relation to different age groups.

Wilma Why should it be? Perhaps, if they still want our goods and don't want to lose the UK as a lucrative market for their goods, they would be happy to come to a trade agreement with us.

Has anyone thought what will happen to farming in the UK if we leave the EU and the billions in subsidies stop?
Despite what people think, food is relatively cheap in the UK - and food imported from the EU is cheap as a direct result of these subsidies.
In, eg, Australia, there are no farming subsidies and food is much more expensive there nowadays.

Many thanks Wilma - should have gone to Specsavers !! Will still vote to leave though.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-summons-ministers-for-loyalty-tests-over-eu-membership-a6840606.html

Cameron asking all his ministers, individually, to see which way they will vote.
I thought he was giving them a free vote.

Petra, a big difference between travelling and working. When I first came to the UK, in 1970, the only way I could work in the UK was to have the firm (I worked for Beechams) to apply for my work-permit- making the case for employing me rather than a local. I was VERY lucky to know the right people- or the only choice would have been to be an Au-Pair, which is what all my travelling friends had to do. Same for studying grants and placings via the Erasmus system, research fellowships, etc- which would all be cancelled. So retrograde and sad - not for our generation, but for our grandchildren.

I truly do not care what nationality I am when I die, nor where I am buried- I won't be there to see it. But for our grandchildren ... I truly want them to have open doors and an open world for them.

Im a bit undecided but on balance think we should stay. For all the reasons Wilma put!

Hi Petra They don't have British passports, as although the parents are married 'in my head' (they have been together 20 years) they are not legally married. I realised that as soon as I pressed enter!

DGC do speak English as well as children brought up in this country and I am thinking about possible spells in education/working here rather than just visits/holidays.

Did you live and/or work in those countries petra? That's what is meant by free movement in this context.

Granniebabi. You say you want your DGC to have free movement.
What did you do before we joined the EU?
I travelled to Spain/ France/ Belgium/ Italy. Nothing will change in regard to travel for Europeans wanting to come here.

Indeed Badenkate- Those rules are there to protect people, not to badger them.

I would definitely vote to stay in. Industry, business and banking all require imports and exports- and without the EU, the UK would find itself totally isolated. So many of the problems we face are also common- the environment and pollution have not boundaries, same for any issues with immigration, protection from third powers including Isis need full pan-European cooperation, and so much more.

Self-determination, gagagran?
If we leave the EU, we will not get a say on TTIP. The only parties that want to opt out of TTIP are the Green Party and the SNP.
Instead of being held to ransom by the EU, as some people think, we will be held to ransom by the big conglomerates in the USA.
I presume you know what TTIP is.

l vote out. l dont want to be ruled by Brussels by unelected Europeans. l was born English and l,d like to die English. Thats what my dad fought for.

I sound like Mrs Pompous Lavande!

Hattiehelga it's on the news day in day out, but from the BBC news website these are his four key objectives are:

Economic governance: Securing an explicit recognition that the euro is not the only currency of the European Union, to ensure countries outside the eurozone are not materially disadvantaged. The UK wants safeguards that steps to further financial union cannot be imposed on non-eurozone members and the UK will not have to contribute to eurozone bailouts.

Competitiveness: Setting a target for the reduction of the "burden" of excessive regulation and extending the single market.

Sovereignty: Allowing Britain to opt out from the EU's founding ambition to forge an "ever closer union" of the peoples of Europe so it will not be drawn into further political integration. Giving greater powers to national parliaments to block EU legislation.

Immigration: Restricting access to in-work and out-of-work benefits to EU migrants. Specifically, ministers want to stop those coming to the UK from claiming certain benefits until they have been resident for four years. Ministers have reportedly been warned by the UK's top civil servant this could be discriminatory and any limits may be reduced to less than a year.

He's probably going to get some agreement on the first 3 objectives, but the last objective is the one causing problems. It does sound like he's making progress though.

What a breathe of fresh air Wilmaknickersfit!

LEAVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. I have yet to find anyone who knows what the Prime Minister is actually negotiating for. It could be that what he wants, apart from his stance on immigration and welfare, are piffling little things which will do nothing to retain our sovereignty. We should be able to make our own Laws to suit our own country. We should not lose so many rights because the European Court says so. The Human Rights Act is abused and manipulated to suit the do-gooders and the scroungers. I was born British and wish to die British. OUT OUT OUT.

I agree with those who say being in the EU helps to avoid war and conflict and am glad some of our older GNetters are the ones to raise this issue. As one of the youngsters on here, I felt like it would not be appropriate to mention it.

For those of you who think there will be free trade with EU countries, I doubt very much if that will be the case if we leave. Why should it be? We'd be seen to want our cake and eat it too.

And for those of you who think we can join Norway and Switzerland, etc. as part of the EFTA, well the EFTA might not agree to the UK joining. None of the EFTA states have joined and left the EU. The UK will be the first to do that and we don't know how our trading prospects with the EU or the EFTA will be affected. Or the rest of the world for that matter.

As for the rules and regulations that come out of Brussels, this is the area in which I have some experience and I would strongly argue that much of the the regulation is for our benefit, the benefit of everyone in the UK except those who want to make money regardless of health and safety, our privacy and basic human rights, etc.

Many of you think having another tier of legislation above our own is a bad thing. I don't. I think it helps stops government from enacting unfair legislation. Now you or I can challenge that legislation and our government has to abide by the decision of the EU.

That's the sticking point for some many posters, but remember it can and does work in our favour too.

Where would those people appealing against the so called 'bedroom tax' without the EU?

Has anyone thought what will happen to farming in the UK if we leave the EU and the billions in subsidies stop?

*gets off soapbox to go to the PO**

I am on the fence too. I am concerned about the fact that most UK folk who will be given the right to vote do not really understand the pros and cons of leaving/staying. I for one would like to be in receipt of unbiased facts - but who out there is qualified to give such information. Thank you Lavande for your input - I will visit www.debatewise.org and hopefully gather more insight. I guess I am probably veering to staying in - with the provisos that Cameron hopes to achieve - but I don't have much faith in his powers of persuasion. Its all very well us being given the right to vote - but the majority of us are ill equipped to have a valid opinion. I know for a fact that my DH will vote to leave - but his is a knee jerk reaction rather than an educated one. Scary.

I am all for leaving the EU as mentioned previously, however, there is one aspect perhaps not thought of and that is the issue of passports.
No longer being a member would surely render our existing EU passports null and void? Would we then all have to apply for new British passports and at what cost?
This may also be seen as an opportunity to once again bring up the thorny question of ID Cards for all British citizens.
Personally I dont see this as a problem. Having lived in South Africa most of my adult life, it was mandatory to carry ID (Book of Life) which contained a unique number, photo, date of birth, driver's licence (this has now changed) etc. Had to be shown when making a bank transaction, voting, applying for a mortgage and any other action which required identification.
Just something else to ponder on perhaps?

I will vote to stay in. For all it's faults we would be very isolated and lonely and economically unstable without the EU

Stay in! We are part of Europe - and are far better negotiating from inside than cutting loose and isolating ourselves. The press always gives more coverage to what we pay in to rather than get from.... Uncertainty is really bad for the economy.
I have to declare vested interested in that my DS is one of those many Brits who are working and settled in another member country. He is married to local girl and I want my DGC to have freedom of movement.

I will definitely decide to leave the EU.

The costs are crippling our country and we get little in return.

David Cameron doesn't seem to achieved much leeway regarding not allowing migrants to receive benefits, or any of the other concessions our country require. I even read a headline of a newspaper that countries such as ours will have to help to pay unemployment benefit for other European countries.

The crisis regarding the number of migrants wishing to come to our country cannot (or will not) be resolved by European ministers. They don't seem to have any common sense regarding this issue.

If we vote to stay, the beaurocracy, costs and red tape will just get worse!

Leave while we can! The UK have a strong pioneering heritage, let us use it for our own advantage.

Why should anything happen to your family Phoebes? They will still be your family. What glorious family gatherings you must have. They will still continue too!

We are talking about a different system of governance, where we have a democratic right to vote for our legislators and the faceless ones in Brussels will not be able to dictate any more.

I am Welsh. My husband is Greek - I met him when I was working in Greece. He is naturalised British since 30 years ago.He has two brothers and their families living in Greece and two sisters and their German husbands and families living in Germany. Before I met him, my husband had a daughter who is half Norwegian and half Greek. She is married to a Dane who was adopted from Sri Lanka as a baby and lives in Copenhagen. Their two little children are a quarter Greek, a quarter Norwegian and half Sri Lankan, but totally Danish by birth.Our daughter is half Welsh and half Greek and lives in New York with her husband, who is American Jewish.
I don't know what will happen to our family if we leave the EEC!