Quote:
Originally Posted by gynn
The question that I still can't get my head round is - "What does "withdrawing from the European Union" means exactly?"
Listening to some of the debate, it seems that all we have to do is give a months notice to Brussels, thanking them for working with us for the last 40 years, but expressing the view that we feel the way ahead is for us to go it alone. A bit like a resignation letter to your employer.
But hold on a minute. What compensation clauses would be triggered? What do we do with the millions of European immigrants, some now second and third generation, who have settled in the UK? How do we deal with the millions of UK expats who settled abroad, and who will presumably have to be repatriated. Do we claim back the money we've paid to Brussels? Do we tear up the contracts that commit us to future payments, future obligations? etc etc etc
These are just the start of the list of questions that our withdrawal would raise. I don't know the answers, and neither I suspect do the people calling for our withdrawal.
But they are questions that will have to be answered so that the great British public goes into any referendum with complete knowledge of all the facts.
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Exactly! These and many more questions and issues could have been thoroughly discussed in the run-up to any referendum (which, as the MP who proposed the referendum has said, would probably have taken us through to 2013).
However, this won't happen now, because the majority of MPs don't want us to have a say.