Voting in EU referendum

[moonjiver]

I wonder if anyone has precise info about this? I mean that the voting cards for the local elections in May have dropped through people's doors, but not a word about how to take part in the referendum.

Does this not take place on the same day as the local polling? Someone on Facebook said that it was necessary to register (on a gov. website) before being able to vote in the EU thing - I can hardly believe that is accurate, surely a good way to exclude some people from the process is to just not give them proper info and thus render them ineligible when the referendum day comes round!

Whatever, I find it very curious that there has been a dearth of info publicised about how and when (and where)
to vote.

[Gerry Glyde]

The referendum is not due until 23 June, 7 weeks after the council elections.
Request for a late application to join the voters for the referendum list must be submitted by 7 June.

Anyone who is on the current register does not need to register seperately for the referendum; a voting card will be sent out by the usual method nearer to the time

[Richard]

If you have been sent a Poll card to vote in the May 5th local elections then you are on the electoral register anyway and do not need to do anything further.
Otherwise you will need to contact your local electoral registration office at Hastings Council:
01424 451066

[moonjiver]

Ah, thanks a lot. I was being a bit slow there, forgotten about the June date for the referendum.

I thought it didn't sound right, that you had to register afresh in order to vote. I suspect there will be strong feelings and a high turn-out! Since we already have economic problems to resolve still, it is hard to see the dire threats (from the Remain lobby) of economic meltdown as much more than scare tactics. Of course an exit will create some issues and changes - we are surely capable of dealing with all that? Worth a bit of challenge and a period of uncertainty if we can also stay in control of our own destiny, instead of many areas of our lives being influenced by a vast, expensive and cumbersome bureaucracy across the channel.

[Richard]

The situation has not been helped by Cameron's recent announcement that he will stand down from power before the next election.
This has naturally led to ministers jostling for their own positions of power, ahead of then next elections.

To encourage us to stay in we need to see 'Top-Drawer' politicians able to present 'the bigger picture', i.e. the importance of stopping the (already weakened) EU from failing, and it is certainly in a mess.
We have been part of the Common Market (later called the EU) for over 40 years now,in total.
Clearly the fault-lines in the EU will not be helped just by withdrawing, yet the dire warnings from Cameron's pro-campaign, that if we vote 'No', all manner of economic 'ills' will damage our personal income, is not the best way to encourage a 'Yes' vote, in my opinion.
We surely need to concentrate instead on how best to make a stronger EU or face a weaker trading body that has less strength and appetite for our own business, amongst others.
Big businesscan will ultimately take care of itself but the rest of us are left to muddle through the pros and cons of a vote, originally insisted upon by malcontents in Cameron's own Party, before bringing him into power.

So Cameron has now decided it is better to appeal to a possible damage to our pockets rather than to see the wider picture, which is a bit of a 'cop-out' in the scheme of things.

[moonjiver]

Yes, I quite agree. Instead of politicians in a responsible way clearly setting out their cases for staying/leaving, with facts and figures which are reliable and verifiable, we are getting the same old story of attempted coercion, manipulation, scare stories and catchy headlines. It varies according to the particular faction and the agenda they are pursuing. Hardly enough to make voters less cynical and more trusting of what they are hearing!

I am staunchly for exiting, going our own way and, if that means making changes, it might not be such a bad thing. But I fear that ultimately a lot of people will be intimidated by the prospect of upheaval presented to them by the Remain lobby. Unless the widespread dismay over the Brussels gravy train etc. wins out! We'll see shortly ..

[Richard]

The UK is basically big and strong enough to do what it wants, it does much more business outside the EU than any other member country.

For historic reasons the European Parliament has two HQ's, one in the Eastern French City of 'Strasbourg' and one in Brussels, the cost of shuffling between the two is about 200 million euro's per annum.
France has defended its right to host the assembly and all the business it brings.
EU governments must all agree on granting a single seat to the parliament, effectively giving France a veto on any campaign seeking to put an end to the two-seat arrangement.
The travelling-circus between the difference workplaces leads to unjustifiable costs and environmental damage that can no longer be explained to the public.

und so weiter, und so weiter!!

[Richard]

As for President Obama and his warnings of dire consequences if we vote to leave the EU.
That is all about big business and a proposed agreement between America and the EU which is being conducted in secret and may undermine the power of national governments to act in the interests of its citizens.
The EU may never agree to this anyway, as it undermines our democratic processes even more than the powers lost already under the EU.
It also weakens worker's rights.
It is called the 'Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership' TTIP.

So I don't really trust the Americans and their so-called 'special relationship'.

[roy]

I will be voting out,time we took back control of our own affairs,our people are more than capable of making our country the best yet.

[Richard]

On the back of 'The Special Relationship' the US dragged us into wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, which resulted in serious EU refugee incursions (into Italy and Greece, for example) which are still unfolding.
We have some undoubted responsibility to accept refugees but the US typically just show a clean pair of heels and walk away without a structure in place to cope with the outfall.
We are told to stick with the plan or go to the back of the queue for any big business deals that may develop, this smacks of arrogance.
We have the best intelligence (Interpol, for example) outside the US (the EU only has Europol) and we have the biggest military capability in the EU, France is second in line but well behind us.
Our military are being sued by terrorists via the European Court of Justice or else the European Court of Human Rights.
I believe we want British judges making decisions in British courts against the claims of terrorists who can just go and win cases by making appeals to the European Courts instead of submitting to our authority.