Is loss of sovereignty a reason for wishing to leave the EU?

Anti-EU people often claim loss of sovereignty as one of their reasons for wishing to leave the EU. We think this is a narrow view of what sovereignty actually means.

Law making could be seen as domestic sovereignty. The House of Commons Library says that only 13% of British law actually mentions the EU. Most of these laws are regulations which keep EU member states to certain minimum standards, a level playing field in such cases as, animal welfare; pollution; and workers rights. In some cases our laws have higher standards.

The control of borders could be classed as interdependent sovereignty which is another area that anti-EU people would like to reinforce. The EU however has the free movement of people as a core aim, and we believe the benefits gained by this outweigh any loss.

EU citizens can and do enjoy living working and studying in all of the 27 member states. In Britain we mainly have young migrant workers who pay taxes and contribute to our economy. There are also many British migrants living and working in other EU countries. Students from Britain are increasingly looking abroad to study as some EU universities are cheaper than ours. Many older Brits have retired to sunnier countries like Spain. These migrants make use of the health service free of charge and don't usually pay taxes. In fact, there are almost as many British migrants in other EU countries as there are EU migrants in Britain. All benefiting from the resources available across the whole region.

True Sovereignty surely lies with the will of the people. That can never be lost. Come June 23rd our people will exercise their right to vote in the referendum. We hope they choose Europe's own motto “United in diversity” by working together for the common good of all citizens, and remain IN.

Pam and Toby Ebert

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