CLOSED:EU referendum Q&A with Labour MP Gisela Stuart and Lib Dem Baroness Sal Brinton

I'm another who is yet to decide. I find it confusing that MPs within the same party have such disparate views. How can this be? And how can you marry this up with party 'ideology' if there is such a split?

Are you aware that auditors have been unable to sign off on the E.U. accounts for many years? If this was a business there would be questions as to why income and outgoings are not balancing.Why have there been no enquiries into this matter?

My instinctive vote is stay, based partly on a list of public figures (eg Donald Trump) who are urging us to leave and partly because I think there is safety in numbers and we are a small island who could otherwise be cut adrift. But then I saw something on Facebook about Switzerland who are not members of the EU, listing all the reasons why it's a great place to live and now, frankly, I am confused. Can we be like Switzerland? Or would the reality be very different?

Why is is referendum being described as a 'once in a lifetime referendum'? If the Remain vote wins by a small margin, and the EU subsequently treats us like 'the poor relations' for daring to try to leave why can't we have another referendum in a couple of years time?

'I hope they only answer one of yours, patsykelly' !
Good question though!One that I look forward to seeing the answer to.

My concern with the leave campaign is that it is increasingly being associated (on the street as it were) with a form of racism - ie leave to stop the country flooding with people from the EU looking for a better life. Clearly this is not the intention of the campaigners, but I guess it is inevitable that the 'keep Britainn for the British' brigade would hijack/jump all over this as a primary reason to get out. I would be interested to hear what both of you have to say about this

To Baroness Brinton.
How British do you like us being?

I hope they answer gillyknits and tell her, once and for all, that the auditors have signed off the accounts. The problem is not with the accounts, it's with what the receiving countries have been spending the money on.

To Baroness Brinton.
How British do you like us being?

What does that mean, please? I can't see how anyone could answer it.

Qu to both on the EU.

When politicians say that immigrants give more to us than they take in benefits, no-one is counting the costs of people like me sitting in meetings which run twice as long, because interpreters are needed. These costs are substantial when factored in over the country. Also, what about the child benefit payments that wing their way back to the countries they cam from? Please can you provide the detail of how the cost/benefit analysis is achieved for immigration?
Alison Wall

The Leave Campaign talk as though they will be immediately running the country. Surely we have an elected government whose job it will be to conduct future business, whether we have voted In or Out. Please can you give me some clarity on this? It's really worrying me and will probably influence the way I vote. Thank you

Alison, something to read before your question is answered.

fullfact.org/europe/cost-benefits/

I agree we will be punished if we stay in and all the other 27 countries will see us as very weak after all our posturing. I believe the punishment would be very harsh and costly and PERMANENT. Who would want to stay in an organisation that would do that to its 'friend'. Once we leave they can come begging us to buy their goods- I 've heard British champagne is better than French although I am teetotal so wouldn't be able to tell!!! Volkswagen has proved to be totally untrustworthy over the emissions scandal. So buy British as much as you can and buckle down and weather the storm and look to a future that is free from EU domination. Their greatest fear must be that other countries will follow our lead so they have actually have more to fear than us. We have rescued Europe from Napolean and in two world wars, let them look after themselves for a change, I say.

Cameron and Osborne talk as if they will still be running the country after the referendum so no different. I think their goose is shot -see my postabove !

They haven't done anything quizqueen. Countries don't behave like children they do what is in their own interest. Your argument would apply just as much if we come out and it could be seen that they would have more opportunity to "punish" us if we come out and have to renegotiate everything.

Most of the other countries within the EU have disaffection within their population in some form or another - we live in difficult times and they would be difficult in or out - and they are well aware that governments must do what they need to do to satisfy their electorate and the referendum was what our government felt they had to do.

Will leaving the EU lead to revised fishing rights /territories for UK fishermen?

Question for Gisella Stuart and Sal Brinton only.

I have had to wait 13 days for a blood test and getting a doctor's appointment is as likely as being hit by an asteroid. The surgery says it is in crisis and this is in an affluent part of the Thames Valley. Heaven help those in deprived areas.

Is it because we have too many people accessing too few services ? Or that we cannot get enough doctors ?

I am of an age when I need medical help.

Staying in the EU IMO will not address these problems
Leaving the EU should reduce numbers requiring the services.

David Cameron said he would reduce the numbers of migrants to tens of thousands and has not achieved his ambition

We need migrants and they have added to this country, however it is the numbers of migrants that needs to be restricted.

What is the danger to the E.U. if the current growth of the far right in many countries continues; particularly in Germany?

What on earth are some posters doing.....answering other posters questions!!
Asking a question of the MP's is the idea surely, and waiting for their reply.

rosesarered....Quite right,hence the wording on my comment !!

The leave camp have said that the £350 million that we give to the Euro will be spent on the nhs, fuel duty and other things If we leave the Eu. Can the leave campaign guarantee that this will be the case? Can they guarantee that this money will not be used to reduce the national debt?

Following on from Suz12 could each of you say what you believe it costs us for membership of the EU, and what it costs Germany and what it costs France? So far I have not see our costs related to other countries costs.

David Cameron has stated that leaving the EU would be "like putting a bomb under our economy".

With this in mind, could you say whether you think such a crucial decision should ever have been put to a public vote?

For obvious reasons we have delayed putting up the answers until today. But they will follow very shortly

Jane10

Are all the financial institutions which strongly recommend remaining in the EU wrong?

GISELA STUART (Leave) Economic forecasts and predictions are notoriously difficult to make and frequently wrong. In the case of many of these recent reports, not only have these bodies been unable to make accurate forecasts for the British economy over recent years, but none predicted the great recession of 2008 and many predicted disaster for the UK unless we joined the Euro. They were wrong then and it is highly likely that they are wrong now. A large number of business people believe that we would be better and stronger as a country outside the EU because it would give us greater control of our trade, borders and laws.

SAL BRINTON (Remain) The single market is the best economic relationship Britain can have with Europe. It allows us to trade without tariffs right across the continent and it gives us a say over the rules of doing business. That means it expands our home market from 65 million consumers to 500 million. So British firms can do business in Berlin under the same rules as in Brighton. I know this from family experience - my husband's firm, a specialist engineering research firm, work and sell extensively into Europe. He's been with them for over thirty years and they say the Single Market has made selling into Europe with common standards so much easier than it was before. Easier has meant they have more staff and make more profit, which in turn means more tax for public services in the UK. Good for the company and good for the UK!

The Treasury estimates that between 3-4 million jobs are linked to our trade with Europe. No alternative to membership of the single market is remotely as good for Britain. The other countries in Europe are not going to give Britain a better deal than the one they have because it is not in their interests to do so. Being in the Single Market means more jobs, lower prices, and more financial security for British families. This has been backed up by the Bank of England, the IMF, the IFS, the NIESR, the LSE, the World Trade Organisation and 9 out of 10 economists.