The decision British people face on the 23rd of June will have real consequences and it is vital that everyone votes. The outcome will shape the future of our country for generations to come. The debate on the European Union (EU) referendum has been dominated by men – one of the reasons why the Labour Party held a women’s press conference recently which I spoke at alongside Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP, Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle MP and Shadow Equalities Minister Kate Green MP.
This decision on 23rd June will affect our prosperity and security. I am proud of being British and of my Asian heritage, and proud of our confidence in our diversity and our place in the world. Some have tried to suggest there is a choice between our relationship with the Commonwealth and the European Union. That is a false choice – all of us gain from being in both. Indeed even Prime Minister Modi and so many Indian businesses I speak to say that companies who trade with us gain from the access that partnering with Britain brings to the single market.
This decision will also affect our jobs, our children’s jobs and our grandchildren’s jobs. It will affect living standards, rents, mortgages, and the price we pay for goods in the shops. And it will affect the vital rights and protections we have fought so hard for. Our membership of the European Union has purpose – our prosperity, our security, our progress as a nation.
And there are difficult issues – like immigration. We have said we recognise people’s concerns and must address those issues of undercutting wages, and pressure on our public services. That’s why it was so wrong for the Conservatives to scrap the Labour Government’s Migrant Impacts Fund, that gave extra resources for public services. And we know that those who have come to work have made a net contribution in their taxes.
Being part of the EU has been a powerful force in empowering women both here in Britain and around the globe, bringing protections for women in the workplace, expanding the right to equal pay, maternity and paternity leave, strengthening protections against discrimination in work and improving remedies for women who have been unfairly treated.
And it has benefitted the many women who work part-time or on a temporary basis, improving their pay and conditions and giving them access to rights at work that they were previously disqualified from. These rights matter for all working people. But they are particularly crucial for women.
Those who want us to walk away from the EU have been asked what they would do to protect the jobs, growth, and investment that our membership of the EU brings. How they would ensure that the hard-fought progress on equality would not be reversed. And which of the workers’ protections the EU has brought us they would be willing to scrap. Priti Patel has cutting back on rights protections will save £4.3bn – but has failed to say what rights will be reversed.
The EU provides a floor of the basic, minimum rights which we must not go below. We can and should aim higher. The EU has been a friend to women in this country – let’s not leave and risk turning the clock back. Europe isn’t perfect – but let’s be confident and change it from the inside. We should be leading, not leaving.
