As the countdown to the referendum begins its final phase, there is a growing majority preference among UK voters, to vote for Britain to remain the EU. However Employment Minister Priti Patel MP delivered a rousing speech focusing on the West Midlands being the UK’s industrial heartland to delegates attending the Vote Leave Rally on Saturday 16th April 2016.
In a speech to around 200 campaigners and activists at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Priti Patel MP stated the case for Britain leaving the EU, saying: “The West Midlands stands at the heart of our industrial revolution. The EU costs the West Midlands £1.2 billion a year - enough to buy a new hospital every six months. Nationally, we send £350 million each week to the EU. We should spend this money on our priorities, like the NHS, not EU bureaucrats.”
The Asian woman cabinet said it is not 'racist' to be concerned about the impact of mass immigration. She blamed other politicians for making it impossible to raise concerns about the impact of the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migranst without being labelled as bigot.
The Employment Minister went on to say: “I am passionate about our country leaving the EU because I know we are strong enough to stand tall as a free independent sovereign nation, where we can spend our money on our priorities, make our own laws and make the most of the potential and talent that our great country and this region has to offer.”
Later in the week, President Obama during his visit is expected to urge EU members to vote remain.
Some people On Leave side are criticising Obama for intervening in an internal British matter, but this issue has wifder ramifications. Given America's historic sacrifice in blood and treasure to help settle European conflict, he is entitled to express a view. However, this is about proportion. Would a British exit really bring about the dislocation that the Government alleges?
George Osborne's attempt to conquer the economic battlefield on Brexit with dire treasury predictions of the damage leaving the EU would inflict on the country has brought the deep split on Europe within the Conservative party into the heart of the government. The Treasury's crystal ball gazers raised GDP concerns, stating effects of an exit would be worse than under models by the CBI and Oxford Economics. Labour party has warned that Britain could lose £4 billion of business, investment, housing, universities and utilities if it leaves the EU. Seema Malhotra, Labour's chief secretary to the Treasury, has argued setting out the case for remaining in the EU, that losing funding could damage the UK.
