This referendum is a once in a generation chance for us to take back control of our country.
When the British people enter the polling booths on June 23rd, border controls, our ability to make our own laws and our huge EU membership fees will all be major factors.
But more than that, the referendum will also be a vote on whether we want to be in political union with Turkey.
A vote for Remain is a vote for mass immigration from Turkey
Peter Bone
17 May 2016
The Telegraph
Peter Bone is Conservative MP for Wellinborough and co-founder of Grassroots Out
Syrian refugees run away as Turkish soldiers use water cannon to move them away from fences at the Turkish border Credit: BULENT KILIC
This referendum is a once in a generation chance for us to take back control of our country.
When the British people enter the polling booths on June 23rd, border controls, our ability to make our own laws and our huge EU membership fees will all be major factors.
But more than that, the referendum will also be a vote on whether we want to be in political union with Turkey.
David Cameron supports Turkey’s accession to the EU, as does Angela Merkel. And yet, the EU’s own report says today that Turkish visa free movement within the EU – rashly agreed as part of a package in March to tackle the migrant crisis and speed up the accession process – will increase the risk of terrorism in Europe.
This only reinforces the fact that EU membership puts UK national security at risk.
Turkey’s 77 million citizens will have the right to enter the Schengen zone for up to 90 days from the end of June. And when they become EU citizens at some time at the end of this decade or the beginning of the next, they will all be granted EU passports – giving them the right to come to Britain.
This is a country that has a porous border with Iran, Iraq and Syria, curbs the freedom of the press and abuses human rights. Only three per cent of the country’s landmass lies within the Europe, but we, the UK, the home of liberal parliamentary democracy, will be in political union with it under a European flag if we stay in the EU.
The consequences could be grave. We will open our borders to a rapidly growing Turkish population. It grew from under 50 million in 1985 to 77 million in 2015. It is projected to overtake Germany’s declining population by 2018 and reach over 95 million by 2050.
Turkey would therefore have the largest population in the EU, have the largest group of MEPs in the European Parliament and the largest voting power of any member state under the Qualified Majority Voting system.
Our pitiful influence within the EU will be further undermined. Turkey will have more voting rights in the Council of Ministers and more MEPs in the European Parliament than the UK.
And then there are the economics. Turkey has a GDP per capita less than one quarter of the UK’s and on a par with Romania and Bulgaria. Our living standards and the national minimum wage have proved a magnet for Romanian and Bulgarian economic migrants and will prove the same for over 77 million Turkish migrants – as will George Osborne's national living wage of £9 per hour promised by 2020.
Despite all of this, the Prime Minister reaffirmed last October that his government supported Turkey's membership of the EU.
The EU’s own analysis of granting Turkey visa free access, just the latest stepping stone on their route to fully fledged membership, should tell us all we need to know.
The only way we protect ourselves from the thousands of Isil sponsored terrorists that Europol say are roaming free within an increasingly borderless EU is by voting for Brexit.
It is the only way we get back control of our borders. Anything else will increase the chance of terrorism on our shores.
When the British people enter the polling booths on June 23rd, border controls, our ability to make our own laws and our huge EU membership fees will all be major factors.
But more than that, the referendum will also be a vote on whether we want to be in political union with Turkey.
A vote for Remain is a vote for mass immigration from Turkey
Peter Bone
17 May 2016
The Telegraph
Peter Bone is Conservative MP for Wellinborough and co-founder of Grassroots Out
Syrian refugees run away as Turkish soldiers use water cannon to move them away from fences at the Turkish border Credit: BULENT KILIC
This referendum is a once in a generation chance for us to take back control of our country.
When the British people enter the polling booths on June 23rd, border controls, our ability to make our own laws and our huge EU membership fees will all be major factors.
But more than that, the referendum will also be a vote on whether we want to be in political union with Turkey.
David Cameron supports Turkey’s accession to the EU, as does Angela Merkel. And yet, the EU’s own report says today that Turkish visa free movement within the EU – rashly agreed as part of a package in March to tackle the migrant crisis and speed up the accession process – will increase the risk of terrorism in Europe.
This only reinforces the fact that EU membership puts UK national security at risk.
Turkey’s 77 million citizens will have the right to enter the Schengen zone for up to 90 days from the end of June. And when they become EU citizens at some time at the end of this decade or the beginning of the next, they will all be granted EU passports – giving them the right to come to Britain.
The consequences could be grave. We will open our borders to a rapidly growing Turkish population. It grew from under 50 million in 1985 to 77 million in 2015. It is projected to overtake Germany’s declining population by 2018 and reach over 95 million by 2050.
Turkey would therefore have the largest population in the EU, have the largest group of MEPs in the European Parliament and the largest voting power of any member state under the Qualified Majority Voting system.
Our pitiful influence within the EU will be further undermined. Turkey will have more voting rights in the Council of Ministers and more MEPs in the European Parliament than the UK.
And then there are the economics. Turkey has a GDP per capita less than one quarter of the UK’s and on a par with Romania and Bulgaria. Our living standards and the national minimum wage have proved a magnet for Romanian and Bulgarian economic migrants and will prove the same for over 77 million Turkish migrants – as will George Osborne's national living wage of £9 per hour promised by 2020.
Despite all of this, the Prime Minister reaffirmed last October that his government supported Turkey's membership of the EU.
The EU’s own analysis of granting Turkey visa free access, just the latest stepping stone on their route to fully fledged membership, should tell us all we need to know.
The only way we protect ourselves from the thousands of Isil sponsored terrorists that Europol say are roaming free within an increasingly borderless EU is by voting for Brexit.
It is the only way we get back control of our borders. Anything else will increase the chance of terrorism on our shores.
