EU Referendum - 'The voices of the young are generally being drowned out by those of the old'

Both Labour and the Conservatives are divided, facts are manipulated to suit the needs of the day and the voices of the young are generally being drowned out by those of the old.

The outlook for young and first time voters is bleak, but more than anything else related to the EU referendum I am disappointed by the amount of fear mongering and negativity that has dominated the ˜Brexit' campaign.

Financially speaking, Boris and Gove don't have much left to stand on. Reasonable discourse and sensible debate have been thrown to the wind as the Brexit economic argument collapses under the weight of its own in incoherence.

Now, in tried and tested fashion, those politicians who would have us withdraw from the EU are turning to the politics of fear and division. The anti-immigration rhetoric has been stamped in bold all over this referendum for the world to see, almost at the cost of any other pro-Brexit sentiment.

Should we, as a nation, decide to leave the European Union on June 23, the message that decision will send to the continent and to the world will not be one of national pride, of reclamation of sovereignty - it will be one of collective xenophobia and isolationism.

We are surely better than this. That's why, when Brexit point the finger at foreigners, we have to speak out and challenge the narrative that we are somehow not masters of our own fate.

It is successive governments, not successive waves of migrants, that are to blame for Britain's ongoing housing crisis.

It was the bankers, not immigrants, that caused the collapse of 2008 and plunged the nation into recession.

It is governments who preside over the welfare system, not foreigners, and it is this government that has chosen to slash benefits for local authorities, the disabled, parents and young adults.

In demonising immigrants in this way Brexit are attacking the basic EU principle of Freedom of Movement, yet their campaigns shamefully neglect the fact that the freedom works both ways.

How can we let this go unchallenged when millions of our fellow countrymen-and-women use that same freedom in order to work, live and love across the continent?

Sadly, hostility towards outsiders seems to be heavily entrenched in our society. Pandered to by self-serving politicians and perpetuated by the predominantly right wing media, this paints a grim image of what it is to be British.

Most unpalatable of all is the assertion that the Brexit argument holds the monopoly on patriotism, that to be internationalist is to be anti-British or that somehow we betray our country by acknowledging the benefits others might bring to it.

In a time of unparalleled uncertainty on the Continent, the need for Britain to play a positive roll in a progressive Europe is clear. The appetite is there for it. YouGov suggests that upwards of 60 per cent of those under 30 are pro-EU. Whereas a similar percentage of those over 50 would vote to leave.

Unfortunately, the young are far less likely to vote than the old. In order to change this the positive case for the EU needs to be made loudly. The dangers of leaving alone are not enough. We need to challenge the divisive notion that our nations problems can be blamed on immigrants across the channel.

Instead we should look to our own government, to reforms closer to home and to the people who represent us in Brussels.

Shaun Ennis, via email