Andrew Dismore

In the near future, we will take the biggest decision affecting our country’s future: the European Union ‘in or out’ referendum. In the 1975 vote, I was a young student who voted ‘no’.   40 years on, we have a very different world. It would be much more momentous to leave an EU that is now 28 members strong at a time when our much smaller globe is increasingly interdependent. .

Basing the economics of the argument solely on our gross annual contribution is misleading, as it ignores all we get back. We sell to Europe 45% of our £226 billion exports. In contrast, our 2014 sales to emerging market countries accounted for just 8.5 per cent of exported goods.

An annual average of £26.5 billion of inward investment comes from EU countries. Companies from outside Europe invest here- especially in London- because we are a gateway to continental EU.

The independent Centre for Economics and Business Research put the value to our economy of exports to the EU at £187 billion in 2014, rising to £277 billion by 2030.

The same report estimates that 3.1 million jobs in the UK are linked to our trade with Europe and that a further 790,000 could be created by 2030 through opening up European markets in tourism, digital services and energy.

These big figures translate into average family savings of around £450 a year due to lower prices, achieved through the strength we derive from being part of the biggest consumer market in the world.

The EU is important for our security too. The European Arrest Warrant gives us the ability to keep our streets and homes safer. 400 people who have committed serious crimes in Britain and then fled to Europe have been arrested under the European Arrest Warrant. One of them was Hussein Osman, the terrorist involved in the 14/7 attempted bomb attack in London, caught in Italy and brought back to Britain within days.

EU immigration is not due to some fictitious ‘pull’ of the benefit system. EU migrants come here to work. Where would we be, without Polish tradesmen, or the French, Spanish or Italians who staff so many of London’s cafes and restaurants?

when I was an MP, I rebelled against the whip by voting for an ‘in/out’ referendum, because as a democrat at heart I believe we must settle this argument once and for all.

The referendum is not about any figleaves the Prime Minister may achieve by way of concessions to cover the embarrassment of the Conservatives’ internal divisions, or the Europhobia of their extreme right. It’s more important than that. The focus has to be on growth, jobs, security and the terrible damage it would do to the UK’s economy if we leave, not the future of the Conservative Party.

Once people focus on the risks of ‘Brexit’, when the referendum finally comes I believe we will see a majority, including me, voting ‘no’ to keep Britain in the EU.

Andrew Dismore AM

Labour London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden

December 2015