"Why you should vote to leave the EU"

By: Campbell Gordon

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Youth unemployment in the EU today

48.6% Greece

47.5% Spain

38.1% Italy

34.3% Cyprus

33.4% Portugal

25.7% France

25.4% Slovakia

22.6% Belgium

22.1% Finland

These figures are a direct result of consistently below average growth in the Eurozone for the last decade.

Women’s rights

UK law is often far more generous than EU law. For example, UK maternity leave may be taken for up to 52 weeks whilst EU law only requires a period of four months. On top of this, statutory maternity pay lasts for 39 weeks under UK law compared to the EU law, which provides for a period of 14 weeks.

In the same vein, the Employment Protection Act of 1975 provided that a woman who was dismissed on the grounds of pregnancy was to be treated as unfairly dismissed - long before the EU’s Pregnant Workers Directive in 1992.

What about violence against women? The UK adopted legislation against female genital mutilation in 1985, whilst the EU only agreed on a law in 2012. We do not need to be in the EU to take action against violence against women or to spend money on charities supporting victims of domestic abuse. Indeed, if we stopped paying £350 million each week to Brussels, we could better support these efforts with further government funding.

Equal Pay

We’re also leaders on equal pay: the Wilson Government passed the Equal Pay Act 1970 before the UK entered the then EEC in 1973, and the Labour Government passed the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975 before the first EU Directive on the topic was adopted in 1976. There is simply no need to be in the EU to ensure equal pay for equal work.

Race Relations

The UK first passed legislation against race discrimination, the Race Relations Act 1965 and 1968, before we joined the EU. As High Court Judge Sir Rabinder Singh said in 2015: 'The Race Relations Act 1976 [which consolidated the 1960s legislation] was perhaps one of the strongest pieces of legislation of its kind in the world and certainly in Europe. It long predated legislation against racial discrimination in EU law'.

LGBT rights

EU law grants far fewer LGBT rights than UK law. EU law merely prohibits discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation in the workplace whilst UK law goes further, and prohibits discrimination on this grounds in access to goods, facilities and public services (Equality Act 2010).

Equal marriage was introduced in Great Britain 2013 (2014 in Scotland). This did not depend on EU membership, but was a positive decision of the British and Scottish Parliaments.

Nor is EU law needed to protect people against crimes motivated by hostility to their sexual orientation. In 2003, Parliament legislated to provide that the courts had to treat crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation as aggravated offences. The EU’s Victims Rights Directive will not, by contrast, become binding until 2017.

Criminal Justice

It was the Wilson Government which established the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme to compensate victims’ of violent crime. They also legislated to give complainants anonymity in sexual offences cases in 1976. The Blair Government subsequently legislated to ensure that complainants were not cross-examined on their previous sexual experiences in 1999. This had nothing to do with the EU. We do not need to accept the supremacy of the European Court to protect victims’ rights.

I can see why a vote to remain can seem safe and secure, but it really is the riskier option: we’re fooled into thinking that the EU is passing all kinds of legislation in our interests, and for our young people in particular our continued shackling to a shrinking economy and possible entry to the eurozone (as laid out in the Five Presidents’ Report) is truly troubling for future employment opportunities. The truly safe option is to Vote Leave on 23rd June, so that we can continue to pass ground-breaking UK legislation that sets a precedent the world over for the fair treatment of people from all walks of life - and to make sure that we can kick out those who make decisions that don’t to represent us all, and which particularly fail to protect the vulnerable.

Youth unemployment in the EU today

• 48.6% Greece
• 47.5% Spain
• 38.1% Italy
• 34.3% Cyprus
• 33.4% Portugal
• 25.7% France
• 25.4% Slovakia
• 22.6% Belgium
• 22.1% Finland

These figures are a direct result of consistently below average growth in the Eurozone for the last decade.

Women’s rights

UK law is often far more generous than EU law. For example, UK maternity leave may be taken for up to 52 weeks whilst EU law only requires a period of four months. On top of this, statutory maternity pay lasts for 39 weeks under UK law compared to the EU law, which provides for a period of 14 weeks.

In the same vein, the Employment Protection Act of 1975 provided that a woman who was dismissed on the grounds of pregnancy was to be treated as unfairly dismissed - long before the EU’s Pregnant Workers Directive in 1992.

What about violence against women? The UK adopted legislation against female genital mutilation in 1985, whilst the EU only agreed on a law in 2012. We do not need to be in the EU to take action against violence against women or to spend money on charities supporting victims of domestic abuse. Indeed, if we stopped paying £350 million each week to Brussels, we could better support these efforts with further government funding.

Equal Pay

We’re also leaders on equal pay: the Wilson Government passed the Equal Pay Act 1970 before the UK entered the then EEC in 1973, and the Labour Government passed the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975 before the first EU Directive on the topic was adopted in 1976. There is simply no need to be in the EU to ensure equal pay for equal work.

Race Relations

The UK first passed legislation against race discrimination, the Race Relations Act 1965 and 1968, before we joined the EU. As High Court Judge Sir Rabinder Singh said in 2015: 'The Race Relations Act 1976 [which consolidated the 1960s legislation] was perhaps one of the strongest pieces of legislation of its kind in the world and certainly in Europe. It long predated legislation against racial discrimination in EU law'.

LGBT rights

EU law grants far fewer LGBT rights than UK law. EU law merely prohibits discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation in the workplace whilst UK law goes further, and prohibits discrimination on this grounds in access to goods, facilities and public services (Equality Act 2010).

Equal marriage was introduced in Great Britain 2013 (2014 in Scotland). This did not depend on EU membership, but was a positive decision of the British and Scottish Parliaments.

Nor is EU law needed to protect people against crimes motivated by hostility to their sexual orientation. In 2003, Parliament legislated to provide that the courts had to treat crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation as aggravated offences. The EU’s Victims Rights Directive will not, by contrast, become binding until 2017.

Criminal Justice

It was the Wilson Government which established the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme to compensate victims’ of violent crime. They also legislated to give complainants anonymity in sexual offences cases in 1976. The Blair Government subsequently legislated to ensure that complainants were not cross-examined on their previous sexual experiences in 1999. This had nothing to do with the EU. We do not need to accept the supremacy of the European Court to protect victims’ rights.

I can see why a vote to remain can seem safe and secure, but it really is the riskier option: we’re fooled into thinking that the EU is passing all kinds of legislation in our interests, and for our young people in particular our continued shackling to a shrinking economy and possible entry to the eurozone (as laid out in the Five Presidents’ Report) is truly troubling for future employment opportunities. The truly safe option is to Vote Leave on 23rd June, so that we can continue to pass ground-breaking UK legislation that sets a precedent the world over for the fair treatment of people from all walks of life - and to make sure that we can kick out those who make decisions that don’t to represent us all, and which particularly fail to protect the vulnerable.