Opposing the motion in a sixth form debate
Type of speech: special occasion
Occasion: sixth form general studies
Date: February 2015
Venue: school classroom
Audience: sixth form year 12, around 50
Role of speaker: visiting speaker
Length of speech: 20 minutes
‘There should be referendum on Britain being in Europe.‘
Mr Chairman, sixth formers.
We don’t need a referendum on Europe
First because nothing is changing. People are more or less happy with things as they are. There are no proposals for transferring new powers from Westminster to Brussels.
Secondly, because if there has to be a vote on Europe, a referendum is not the right way to go about it.
The public is broadly in favour of membership. A YouGov poll published last Friday showed 40 per cent of the public in favour of staying in, 39% wanting to leave.
Business strongly supports membership. The EU is their largest trading partner.
There are complaints. There always have been.
But none of sufficient importance to justify the expense of a referendum.
For most people Europe means very little. It is not top of their agenda. What they worry about is education, health, jobs and pensions.
A recent survey showed Europe as coming 12th in the list of things that worry people. Day to day living is not much affected by our being in the EU.
Secondly, a referendum is not the way we normally conduct our business in this country. A referendum does have some apparent advantages. It gives the people power, may act as a curb on parliament and the political parties.
We have had a few referendums in the last 40 years, but not many.
We still use them a little. If a local council wishes to raise its Council tax over the amount set by central government, it has to have a referendum.
Other countries use referendums from time to time on major issues. The Swiss use them regularly.
In the British parliamentary system we elect MPs to represent our interests and to do the hard work to decide on laws. I think that is the best way. A referendum tends to undermine the status of our MPs. It goes over their heads.
There some serious disadvantages about referendums.
They may have their uses in the case of clear cut issues such as Scottish independence or raising the Council tax.
But they are not good on complex issues because people may not understand what they are voting for.
Membership of the EU is complex issue. You have got to know what the advantages and disadvantages are.
It’s not being patronising to say that most people don‘t know much about it. They are not interested enough to study the matter. They don‘t have the time. It’s what they elect MPs to do.
You might say tell the people what it is about and then they will know how to vote.
Maybe. The Irish are obliged to hold a referendum if there is a new treaty on Europe that may require a change to their constitution.
They held a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, that contained a number of changes. They issued a 20 page document sent to all households that tried to explain the changes. I have seen it. It is good and fairly clear. I doubt if many read it.
If we held a referendum on membership of the EU, I wonder if the government would bother to send out an explanatory document and if anyone would read it.
So people would depend on the media to tell them what membership was about and what difference it would make if we left.
But the media may not help much. The Daily Express has a well publicised crusade to get out of the EU. So you can imagine their reporting on the EU will be pretty biased.
You would get all kinds of people expressing extreme views. Making exaggerated claims. Steering clear of the facts. You would find wealthy people taking large amounts of advertising space to air their views.
Of course that can happen in general elections but we all have a fairly good idea of what we are voting for.
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To summarise, sixth formers, I am against a referendum on being in Europe because:
We don’t need one. Nothing is changing that would require us to have one.
Secondly, our democratic system is a parliamentary system with MPs deciding on these things.
Thirdly, a referendum is a highly risky method of voting when it comes to Europe.
I beg leave to oppose the motion, Mr Chairman.