Mistake to leave EU

Sir,

It is referendum day and the stakes are high. It would be a monumental mistake to leave a union that we have benefited from both economically and socially.

Retreating into isolationism will have consequences and we will probably be eligible to take up our former title as the sick man of Europe again.

For island communities on the very edge of Europe we have been shaped by this continent and union from the Hebridean generation that fought for its peace and security to the roads, causeways and bridges that have built and modernised our communities.

The importance of European structural funding to our progress over the last four decades cannot be understated. Not only in infrastructural projects but right across social, economic and educational fields

European funding has been crucial. For example in the development and growth of Lews Castle College and UHI. Of course with the expansion of the EU, funding for infrastructural projects has reduced but there is still a substantial amount of funding that assists projects and provides jobs across the Western Isles today.

Some say we could have had all that outside the EU using the money we contribute. It is highly unlikely that governments at Westminster or Holyrood would have fully funded the multi-million pound projects that we have seen. Because of EU funding local government was able to lever in matching funding from central government and other sources to support those projects.

This is not a perfect union and its policies will always need reform and revision. The Common Agricultural Policy for example will always need re-negotiation and change. But I can't imagine agricultural activity being subsidised by any government to replace EU funding if we choose to leave. Losing such funding poses a huge threat to an already vulnerable crofting sector.

There is also a real threat to jobs and the rights that workers enjoy under the Social Chapter. Those advocating for us to leave are no supporters of the Social Chapter and no friends of the working man or woman. They want the Social Chapter scrapped. The UK would be turned into a low wage economy where the rights of workers would be diminished.

Very soon the island community will be welcoming two Syrian families who have had to flee with their lives from the terror of war. This is the right thing to do and flies in the face of the prejudice and rhetoric we have heard from senior politicians in the Leave campaign.

It reflects our values of compassion and solidarity. It shows that despite being on the very edge of Europe we are at its very heart and can be leading the way in influencing its direction rather than isolated on the margins.

Donald Crichton

42a Upper Coll

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Isle of Lewis

Letter: A "mistake" to leave EU

23 June 2016