EU Referendum Debate

Aaron Banks vs. Will Straw

With six weeks to go until David Cameron's renegotiation demands are formally discussed at the European Commission in Brussels, the FPA hosted a debate between Aaron Banks of Leave.Eu and Will Straw of Britain Stronger in Europe.

Each made the case for his side of the argument. Aaron Banks, argued that "we don't have to be part of a political union to get economic benefits." For Will Straw, Britain Stronger in Europe was the patriotic option. 

European Movement UK

“Give me back my country”?  Let’s take the country forward – Laura Sandys

The Chair of the European Movement conceded that those in favour of the EU had allowed the debate to shift over the past twenty years or so into a place where it’s fashionable, cool, even trendy to be anti – EU. We have, said Laura Sandys, let them get away with it. A lot of British people over the past two decades, and especially since 2008, felt understandably ripped off, patronised and ignored, and their anger had been cleverly captured and channelled by UKIP. The EU like all bureaucracies needed an occasional kicking, but the idea of walking away was entirely self-defeating. 

On offer from the Vote Leave campaign were three options on the supposedly glorious Day One of being out of the EU. First, the ‘twilight zone’ of Norway and Switzerland – the vision of Bill Cash, Owen Patterson and others -where the UK had no say, but still got big bills and high migration. This was the worst of all worlds. Then there was Douglas Carswell’s vision of a “brave new world”, a deregulated Singapore of the west, libertarian, brutal and survival of the fittest. Finally, Nigel Farage’s leap back to the 1950s, a proposition built on nostalgia for deference, segregated education and blaming the outsider for all our ills. 

The campaign to remain in the EU had to get on the front foot, explain why Europe was so central to people’s jobs and security, connect with ordinary people – especially the young – and make sure people voted to stay.

Atlantis Massif

The mystery of the lost city 

The two co-chief scientists of an expedition leaving on October 26 from Southampton for the mid-Atlantic briefed FPA members on their hopes for the multi-million dollar project. Professor Gretchen Fruh-Green and Dr Beth Orcutt said the six week long expedition will explore the Atlantis Massif, a 4,000 metre high underwater mountain on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The aim is to use new drilling technology to collect samples and discover what kind of life exists on and within the rocks, and how carbon gets transformed in this environment.

The main scientific and technological challenges are three fold: what kind of life, if any, exists in the rocks? Does the diversity of life in the rocks vary, and – thirdly - is any life here unique in its structure or biochemical reaction? The two scientists said they knew what came out of the system – methane, hydrogen and heat – but the big question was: what is in there?

They explained that the main focus of their work at sea would be bagging and tagging tens of thousands of samples of rock; ultimately they were simply trying to understand more about life on earth by investigating life forms on the ocean floor.

Vote Leave

Vote Leave: safest way for UK to cut costs and keep control

The deciding factor in the forthcoming referendum on the EU will be jobs, not immigration. That’s according to Paul Stephenson, Communications Director and Robert Oxley, Head of Media of Vote Leave. They told FPA members that their campaign had three core messages: cut the cost of £350 million going to the EU every week, take back control over the UK economy and public services, and vote for the safer choice for the future. 

The two spokesmen agreed that the Leave and Remain campaigns were currently neck-and-neck, but leave voters were much more enthusiastic about the referendum than those who wanted to stay. The key battleground was over “the crucial fifth”, the 20% of the electorate who would probably like to leave the EU but might still vote to stay because of fears about jobs. They said Downing Street was clearly behind the stay campaign and their betting was on a September 2016 date. 

The two men said Vote Leave needed to win three key battles: don’t believe the scare stories, realise the EU isn’t working properly and understand that things will be better if we leave. They thought the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign (BSE) was facing some key challenges. It was a disunited coalition of Blairites and Government, its “Project Fear” had been undermined by Stuart Rose saying that “nothing would change if we left the EU.” And finally, BSE lacked a clear message. The two said the later the date of the vote, the more likely Vote Leave was to win the day.