How long do you have left on this planet?

I’m posting this letter to my local community where, sadly, I’ve seen too many ‘Vote leave’ posters. My neighbours might not read it, but perhaps you will.

Dear Neighbour

I’m writing to you personally because I feel so passionately about what I’m going to say. I am a young mother to be, I grew up in High Wycombe and now plan to bring up my family in Amersham. Much like many people in this town, family is important to me. I’d do anything to make the world a better place for them.

That’s why I’m pleading with you to vote to stay in the EU on 23rd June. Vote ‘remain’ to ensure the future is better for your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren. However, I’m not going to simply reel off endless reasons for why you should vote remain, instead let me tell you that I understand if you currently feel like you want to leave.

Perhaps you feel we spend too much money on being part of the EU? I can understand where you are coming from. As an example, I work at an Education Technology company, we provide free education to people all over the world — it’s amazing to see the lives of so many people changed through learning. And yet for some reason our government still can’t seem to afford to invest enough money in our own education systems here in the UK, and for that reason we are still leaving thousands of talented British people behind. But let me be clear, leaving the EU will not solve this issue. This is not a problem that can be easily fixed simply by stopping spending money on being part of the EU. We must transform the whole mindset of how our country is governed if we wish to transform the futures of young people in the UK. And we can only transform our mindset with help from friends all over the world.

Perhaps you feel like there are too many migrant workers from the EU, or via the EU, that are putting a strain on our society and causing young people from the UK to settle for no job or a low-paid job? Again, I can see why you might think this. About half of the software developers that I have worked with have come from other countries in Europe. They are amazingly talented people, but it has in the past made me wonder why don’t we have enough people with technical skills from the UK? Why do we have such a high unemployment rate when we have jobs being filled by non-native people?

You could perhaps blame this on the fact that being part of the EU encourages free flow of people. But I beg you to see beyond the simplicity of blaming the EU for our employment & skills problem. At the same time I’d urge you to see that these non-native workers are not just coming here and “stealing jobs” as I have heard people say in the past. I have learnt far more from working with people from all over the world than I would have done if we had shut ourselves off from migrant workers. It has benefited mine, and the rest of the country’s, outlook on life and enabled us to become better human beings. In a more tangible example, it also means that when I give birth in December I can feel safe, with a large portion of the NHS being fuelled by very skilled migrant workers.

You might also believe that in being part of the EU we have lost our sovereignty, our ability to govern our own country without interference from others. In some ways you are right, we do indeed have to abide by EU laws around agriculture, it is an imperative to put in place measures to tackle climate change as part of the EU, and the way we treat other humans is restricted by the European Human Rights Act. But these are rules we want to play by, surely? These are measures that keep our fellow humans and our futures safe. And if there are other rules and laws that restrict us in other ways that we do not agree with then the only way to challenge these is by being part of the EU. If we leave the EU we will lose the protection it provides to all citizens of all european countries equally, and instead we may find ourselves restricted by our own government through laws that the EU would have challenged and toppled. We must keep the futures of our children safe, and their futures will be safer in the EU.

I could continue for pages, examining the economic and cultural benefits that the EU provides, along with the freedom it allows us to enjoy. But I will leave you with some questions to ponder.

How long do you have left on this planet? How much tangible benefit do you truly think you will see in your lifetime if we leave the EU?

I’d imagine your answers to those will be, in the grand scheme of things, “not long” and “not much”. Which will hopefully highlight that this vote is not about you. It’s about your grandchildren, your great grandchildren, and the future of our planet. If you vote to leave on the 23rd June then you are personally responsible for sacrificing my child’s future.

I plead that on the 23rd June you vote to protect the future, and that you vote to remain part of the EU.

All the best,

Tess