PERSHORE’S MP will be voting for the UK to remain in the EU and claimed jobs in the Vale ‘hinged’ on the country’s continued membership.
Harriett Baldwin declared her support for the remain campaign after waiting for months to find out what the Prime Minister had achieved in his negotiations to reform Britain’s relationship with the EU.
In claims which will be countered by campaigners who want the UK to exit the EU, Mrs Baldwin argued jobs in the Vale rely on the free movement of goods, workers and services that being an EU member provides.
“David Cameron has secured a special status for the UK in the EU,” Mrs Baldwin said.
“We enjoy the best of both worlds – sovereignty over our currency and interest rates, sovereignty over budget matters as a non-Euro country and we are not part of the border-free Schengen area.
“Our farmers and businesses get access to an enormous market and we can choose to live, work, study, and travel freely and own property in the EU with the same protections as at home.
“Many jobs in Worcestershire and the UK hinge on this free movement of goods, workers and services around the EU.
“Those advocating leaving the EU have not, to my mind, been able to show how they would retain the benefits of free trade in a single market, nor have they shown how we’d be able to influence future changes to EU laws that would affect us, nor how they would reduce the cost of membership or even how our borders would be safer if we left.
“Now that the negotiations are successfully concluded, I am pleased to back remaining in a reformed European Union in a referendum where my vote carries the same weight as everyone else’s.”
