David Cameron has promised a referendum on EU membership should he be re-elected,and our own survey came out clearly in favour of the idea. Many experts, though, or are horrified at the idea of quitting the EU. Alex Preston looks at the consequences of saying goodbyeAnxious,atomised… and not in it together: the state of Britain in 2015Britain Uncovered survey results: the attitudes and beliefs of Britons in 2015Apathy or antipathy? Why so few young people voteBritain’s relationship with Europe is low down on the list of concerns for most voters in the coming election, but the subject of the “Brexit” – Britain’s secession from the European Union – will come to dominate our political lives should the Conservatives find themselves in some kind of power after 7 May. David Cameron has promised a 2017 referendum on our place in the EU, or a referendum our survey suggests is favoured by the majority of the population. The result of any plebiscite looks less certain,with those wishing to leave Europe just outnumbering those likely to vote for the status quo, but there are still many undecided. The arguments on either side are clear. whether youre a Eurosceptic, or the impositions of European Union bureaucracy are daily infuriations,with Britain supposedly ceding control to Brussels of immigration policy, of its legal system, or of its famously curved cucumbers. Britain contributes a small fortune to the European Union budget each year (somewhere between £8bn and 20bn,depending on whom you believe) and that’s after the tough-won common agricultural policy rebate secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1984 (when Britain was the moment poorest of the EEC members).
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Source: theguardian.com