• Question: Are you voting in or out of the EU and why?

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      Asked by ALOrona to John, Laura, Luke, Rob, Ruth on 10 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: Laura Finney

        Laura Finney answered on 10 Jun 2016:

        This is something I keep getting asked this week and is on everyone’s minds!
        It also sparks a huge amount of debate so here goes….. I’m voting…. IN! ????????

        Why… well this is when the debating happens so I’m sorry if anyone agrees.
        The money for my PhD comes from Europe and I know that about 20% of science funding does. This means I am a bit scared about what will happen to science if we leave the EU.

        Also, a lot of people in chemistry are from mainland europe. I have a lot of portuguese/french/italian friends I’ve met on my PhD and they are really talented scientists. I think that in science you have to think bigger than your own country if you want a job in that subject and a lot of people move abroad so I think it would be a shame for us to lose the movement in the EU.
        I am scared that really talented scientists (like my foreign friends) won’t want to come here any more.

        There are also a few other reasons but those are my main 2 I guess. My main reasons are science based 🙂

        I will be really interested to see what other people have to sat though! ?

      • Photo: Robert Williams

        Robert Williams answered on 10 Jun 2016:

        Out.
        I hate bureaucracy – it is the treacle that slows down the progress of humankind

      • Photo: Ruth Patchett

        Ruth Patchett answered on 11 Jun 2016:

        I am voting In. Like Laura says a lot of science funding comes from the EU and I love the sense of unity and working together for common goals. I think the EU will also help us to protect certain laws like human rights laws and employment laws. Not to mention it gives us the freedom to work anywhere we like in the EU without having to get complicated visas etc. It’s great to be paying an interest in all of this though I wish I had made more time to learn about politics before I suddenly had the power to vote.

      • Photo: John Fossey

        John Fossey answered on 11 Jun 2016:

        I believe I will submit a ballot paper, I can understand both sides, and don’t really like either option.
        I am however very concerned that the leave campaign is a mask for something more ugly and and I can say I am definitely not voting leave.
        I am often reminded of this:
        http://hmd.org.uk/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/files/HMD_files/first_they_came.pdf
        But I am not sure if I can bring myself to support the same old braying and hissing remain figure heads either.

        I might write “none of the above” on the form – for all the good it will do……

      • Photo: Luke Williams

        Luke Williams answered on 12 Jun 2016:

        I shall be voting to leave the EU. For as long as I have been interested in politics I have wanted to leave the EU, and I am rather happy that we are finally getting a referendum.

        It has been pretty sad to watch the state of argument, all the mud slinging from all sides, it really is all noise for me – very little of substance there.

        No one really knows what will happen if we were to leave, or indeed what would happen were we to remain. Predicting the future is extremely hard at the best of times.

        For me, I am voting to leave in order to return full control of this country to parliament. If we are lucky, the EU may fall like a pack of cards with other countries pulling out, but that would be a bonus.

        Edit: Rereading the list, that’s two out, two in, and one on the fence. About right then, proportionally speaking.

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