I'm going to do something a little bit different on my blog today and talk to you about politics! I can feel the eye rolls already but just hear me out! The EU Referendum is happening this month and some of us will have by now received our postal voting forms (I have!) but are unsure as to how to vote. There seems to be a lot of information floating around from both sides of the argument and none of it is seeming to make any sense. That is why I'm making this post, to tell you why I am voting IN in this referendum. Don't forget, if you are eighteen or older and in the UK you can register to vote up until the 7th June in order to get your voice heard!

(Normal posting will resume tomorrow, also - beware the meme).

I was surprised as anyone when I found myself siding with David Cameron, the pig wanking tosspot as my mother likes to call him. But here I am, I very strongly believe that we need to stay in the European Union, especially as a young person in the North West of England. Liverpool is a city that has been infamously neglected by the government - so when we were given the Capital of Culture award in 2008 it was great to see the city I love, the city I live in rebuilding itself and regenerating. The influx of money the North West has had from the European Union has directly affected the way I go about my life and I believe this would not have happened if we were not in the EU.

The EU created and upholds a lot of pretty cool human rights acts: equal pay; holiday entitlement and the right to not work over 48 hours a week (without overtime of course)... It's interesting then looking at how these are rights that Cameron tried to abolish back in 2014! The EU funds so much amazing research on diseases including a project that may lead to the cure for breast cancer - as well as giving us cross border policing as a way of stopping human trafficking, arms and drugs smuggling and terrorism. It has broken up monopolies, gave us cheaper mobile charges, lead free petrol, cleaner beaches and clearly labeled food products. Now I could go on about trading regulations, but I'm struggling to see why anyone would want to leave the EU when looking at those statistics! There is no point in risking our economy again by leaving the EU and damaging all of our European trading agreements. It all feels very... Mr. Burns to me.

My final (for this post, at least - don't worry there are more but I don't fancy writing another essay so soon after finishing university) reason for wanting to remain a part of the EU is the travel. Being a member of the EU gives us the right to travel, live and work across Europe without getting any paperwork. This one is particularly important for me as someone who aims to travel a lot for work in the future. I can only imagine the ball-ache that comes with filling out a whole tonne of visa applications before wanting to spend a weekend in Amsterdam or Paris. 

Hopefully I've cleared up my views on the referendum... It's all just one big pointless mess in my eyes! Don't forget, as the younger generation we will have to live with the fall out of this vote for the longest - so please vote and get your voice heard! How are you going to vote? Please be nice & respectful in the comments! Hopefully we can get a good discussion going on the topic!