A public figure should lead the ‘In’ campaign
Despite there being no firm date for the referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, most of us suspect it will be held in 2016.
As a result, campaign groups have already formed and discussions are taking place about what arguments we should make to convince the country that voting to remain in the EU is the best option.
As many have said before me, the EU is the most successful peace process the world has ever known. Our union rose from the ashes of war, and as I write, war continues to rage on the fringes of Europe. Hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking the freedoms and safety we take for granted here in the EU are risking their lives to escape violent and unstable environments in search of the same security.
You just have to look at what is going on around us to see how far the EU has come in just 60 years. We have found solutions to fundamental differences to improve the lives of every one of the EU’s 500 million citizens.
As well as peace, the removal of barriers to trade has helped create jobs. The EU has helped improve labour standards including the right to paid holidays and to equal treatment for part-time staff. It is exactly this kind of message we need to get through to people.
Although we won, we need to learn from the mistakes we made during Scottish referendum last year. We need to put politics aside and fight this battle as citizens. I want to see a public figure lead the campaign to remain in the EU, not a politician. Where we need to be different from those who want to see us leave is by seeking out people who are well known but who you might not expect to be pro-Europeans. It is these voices who can convince the public; one of the poorest aspects of our Scottish campaign was the prominence of politicians.
If we want to build support for the United Kingdom’s place in Europe, our priority is to sell the benefits of staying in. However, there is also a need to explain the dangers of leaving. Unlike the independence referendum, our focus should be on ‘why’ rather than ‘why not’. This is something I feel we got wrong last time. Too many citizens believe we focused our campaign on fear; we would be foolish to do the same again.
Many businesses, organisations and the likes of Universities UK have already made their voices heard on their support for continued membership of the EU. Trade unions and the third sector are also starting to mobilise. It is through these voices I feel we can best reach the general public. When people hear from their employer, their university or a charity they support that EU membership helps what they do in the UK, it strikes a chord.
Another focus of our campaign should be to highlight what we could miss out on in the future if we left the EU. The heart of the EU´s – and respectively the UK´s – competitiveness and its biggest economic strength lies in the single market. The digital single market has the potential to improve access to information, bring efficiency gains in terms of reduced transaction costs, improve consumer choice and reduce our environmental footprint. It is opportunities like this that the UK simply cannot afford to miss out on.
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Catherine Stihler is a member of the European parliament for Scotland
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