Non-EU immigrants are a problem as they abuse the system and are a net drain on the system
I don't agree with this...perhaps because as a British national I married someone from a non-EU country? It's quite disheartening every time I return from a travel abroad to see two queues at passport control, one for EU and one for non-EU. Should my wife and I seperate into different lines and hope to meet up again on the other side, or do we need to ask for permission to remain in the same queue every time? And which queue, me in non-EU or her in EU? If this isn't outright racism, it's certainly a form of mild discrimination.
Personally, I consider myself pro Europe and pro immigration, but NOT pro EU membership and NOT pro uncontrolled immigration. For me, the main issue is about sovereignty and ability to govern the UK without being forced into policies that benefit the 27 other EU member states but hurt the UK. Ask yourself, would the other 27 EU member states like to skim some tax off the UK's financial sector? Yes, they would. Would that be of benefit to the UK? No.
There's also the issue of being chained to the slow growth and high unemployment European economies, where in the case of the UK, there are deep, historical relationships with many of today's fastest growing regions, irrespective of the dark side of past British colonialism. So for the EU to impose tariffs and dictate trade policy between the UK and non-EU nations seems nonsensical. Long term, I actually see the UK leaving the EU as a net positive for the economy.
Short term, there may be a hit to GDP, but the currency revaluation that we are already seeing will to a large extent offset the short term possible impact of (higher) tariffs. Even if it takes a little time to remove tariffs with the EU because they want to "punish" the UK for leaving, in the mean time a weaker GBP will keep UK exports competitive. The UK buys more from the EU than vice versa, so after the vote has taken place it is in everyone's interests to remove or keep very low tariffs...once the political posturing has run its course.
Going back to immigration, they key problem is 500+ million EU citizens have free access to the UK, so if (and when) the European economies hit their next bump, or more countries became EU members, then you are powerless to stop these people moving to the UK.
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