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

What are your 3 most persuasive arguments for staying/leaving?These need to be supported with facts please.

The emphasis placed on the economy by the remain side's ideas of how much it will suffer if we leave is pointless when no-one can be certain how our economy will be affected by remaining or leaving. It will depend on how well or badly it is managed by the government in power and events in the outside world as a whole.
What is more certain and worrying is the immigration problem over which we have little control when it is in the hands of 27 other countries, each of which is affected differently.
Some are already taking action against the threat regardless of EU laws and it is only by leaving the EU can we ensure we can legally take our own measures and pay our own costs.
The final and perhaps the most important area which the remain group does not seem to care about is sovereignty, to be able to make our own decisions rather share them with 27 other countries.

Tegan re the energy bills - we are currently not able to charge zero VAT on energy bills due to EEC regs. We pay a reduced rate of VAT instead. The treasury would not be able to afford to give up this tax - we are still running a deficit - in other words the treasury has less money coming in tax than it needs to pay out to pay for public services and cover the debt interest. That is why our national debt is rising steadily and has done since 2010.
I think the way forward on energy bills is to improve the energy efficiency of houses so that the amount of energy used reduces. This is also better for the environment than making fossils fuels cheaper to burn.

Most of our national newspapers are controlled by right wing billionaires who are campaigning on the Leave side. We saw at the last election how much influence they have when Rupert Murdoch told the readers of The Sun to vote Tory and the readers of The Scottish Sun to vote SNP - and they did.

A referendum survey in The Telegraph showed that millions of readers of The Sun, Daily Mail and Express intend to vote Leave and only a tiny minority who read these papers want to Remain. What can be done to counter this bias?

fullfact.org/europe/vote-leave-facts-leaflet-membership-fee/
In more detail.

Do either of you ( Gisela and Sal, I mean) use www.fullfact.org to check any of your facts before you tell people what you think? Why or why not?

Thanks GandTea

oops forgot the link
blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-britain-sending-350m-week-brussels/21733

Tegran, this site explains it a clearly as any.

Briefly, we pay £350/week, but get back about half of this in rebate, payment to farmers, investment in poorer areas etc.

What is not clear is the amount the EU is worth to our businesses in direct exports, technology and other EU related income.

So the maximum it costs before those hidden benefits is about £2 million a day, which is a tiny part of our overall daily expenditure.

Read the article and make up your own mind.

Can anyone supply a figure re how much we pay into the EU and how much we get back? I keep hearing mentions of how much we pay in but don't hear what we get in return [which, I would imagine, more than balances that figure out]. Also, most of my family work in engineering and their employers have advised vote to stay in. As manufacturing in this country seems to be constantly reducing, what will happen if we leave? Which manufacturing industries will be better off? And what of this talk about our energy bills being much less if we leave. Is this a fact or just supposition?

Surely whatever money we don't send to the EU (and exaggeration of this doesn't impress me) will be needed to support our own increased "state" so we can undertake the things that have been done by the whole of the EU currently. We would of course need or decide not to need to continue supporting farmers, poorer areas, etc., and set up administration to take this over.

How can the "leave" group suggest that specific amounts could be spent here or there when our own government (elected by us) will make that choice or are they thinking of standing as "leavers" in the next election so they can take over the spending choices and could they then agree on those?

Virtually every authority in economics, both individuals and organisations, agree that we will have at very least a brief recession if we vote to leave. Given that our economy is currently not on good form, with the national debt running at over £1.6 trillion (1.6 with 11 zeros) and growing rapidly because we can't afford to reduce it despite the austerity... And given there would be a period of economic uncertainty that would start on June 24th and carry on for the 2 years it would take for us to actually leave the EU... How long do you think this recession might last? Please give a range - between x years and y years.

Nothing seems to be the most likely action. If we deported them, it would prompt a tit for tat reaction.

What will happen to EU nationals living in this country if we vote to leave?

How can I find out if we have a net benefit in my region of net loss from the EU?

I saw a post on Facebook about 4European counties who did not enter the European union or left who's Gdp is very healthy.Is the issue for us in the length of time that we have become entwined.
What happens when The Frenck economy falters under the Militancy of the Farmers .

What will happen to the NHS?

How long will it take to untangle ourselves from the EU if the Vote is to leave?

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