Voting to remain in Europe is "patriotic thing to do"

A vote for Britain to stay in the European Union when the EU referendum comes will be "the patriotic thing to do," says local Liberal Democrat Stuart Bonar, who stood in the Plymouth Moor View constituency at May's General Election.

Speaking after the Lib Dems had launched their campaign to keep Britain in Europe, Stuart said:

"For me, the EU's greatest achievement is lasting peace in Europe. Yes, Nato helped prevent conflict between East and West during the Cold War, but it is the European Union that has slowly built a culture of peace on our continent. Now, instead of sending armies across the Channel to face enemies across battlefields, we send ministers and MEPs to meet their counterparts across conference tables.

"If I think about the vast devastation that the Blitz brought to Plymouth, the idea of today's Germany sending over bombers to level this city is utterly absurd. It's simply unthinkable. It is now ingrained in us that we work together, we debate, we argue, we negotiate. We will always have disagreements, sometimes profound ones, but it is infinitely better to sort those out through negotiation rather then bloodshed. After 70 years of peace it is easy to take it all for granted. We shouldn't.

"Britain is in Europe. That's an inescapable fact. We can either choose to work together with our neighbours or somehow pretend they aren't there. All European countries face big challenges - climate change, international crime, protecting our rights at work from the cold winds of globalisation. By working together with our neighbours we are much better able to confront those challenges. Pollution doesn't need a passport to float across the Channel. It is only by working together that we can effectively tackle these pressing problems.

"Around half of the stuff we export is sold to the rest of the European Union. It is by far our most important export market. By being in the EU we make it easy for businesses to sell to a massive marketplace of over 500 million people. That means jobs are more secure and we are better off.

"If Britain votes to leave the EU at the coming referendum, we'd make it harder to make our way in the world, and put jobs at risk. But we'd also be sending a message to the world. We'd be saying: we're pulling up the drawbridge, we want to talk between ourselves and not with others, we're no longer interested in working with other countries. I don't want to live in a country like that - one that's isolationist, cut off, grumpy.

"When the referendum comes I'll be voting for Britain to remain in the European Union. That's the patriotic thing to do. That's the pro-British thing to do. Because I want this country to win and succeed. I want us to continue to play our part, to engage with our neighbours. Britain shouldn't leave Europe - we should lead in Europe."

More information on how help the campaign to keep Britain in Europe is online at http://libdems.org.uk/europe