We had the privilege this morning in Pevensey Bay of being amongst the first of districts in the country to receive the Government leaflet on the benefits of European Union membership. Perhaps everyone else in the country got the leaflet today as well, the £9.3 million spent should at least have afforded some co-ordination across the country—Bay Life, 11 April 2016
The verdict? Well surprisingly matter of fact in some ways is one possible view
Hardly the most catchy title “Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK”, but we get the point, not exactly without spin, quite matter of fact… fact or careful selection of facts, depending on your point of view.
It is not until you get to the page with the benefits of membership, buried somewhere deep at the back of the leaflet, that you even get a snapshot of the costs of membership (and even then you have to partly work out what is meant), but perhaps that was to be expected from the vote yes campaign which of course includes the Government line.
Having said that, the stronger economy section at the front is interesting and there really are some facts and figures (carefully selected of course) , perhaps best is the improving our lives page which is remarkably plain and matter of fact and all the better for being so simple.
Will the leaflet make any difference to the way that local people are intending to vote on 23 June?
Time will tell, and we have yet to see what the Brexit campaign has to offer, then of course we will be able to make some direct comparisons with facts and figures, or not, as the case may be.
So much conjecture, projection and opinion, with the facts that can be held in comparison a little harder to find..
The tiny straw poll on Bay Life is still tiny but getting less tiny by the day.
With over 120 votes now in from local people (well let us assume they are local people,) what can we say? The vote for the last week has been divided almost exactly, about 50% of people say that we should stay in the European Union and about 50% of people say that we should leave the European Union.
The figures are something of a surprise in the locality that was the first area in East Sussex to elect a UKIP County Councillor.
This week will, perhaps, show if local people are swayed at all by what they have read with the £9.3 million Government leaflet. Will the tide turn with the figures that we see voting in our tiny straw poll, one way or the other?
Whichever way we decide to vote as a country, perhaps there is one thing that can be agreed on that is in the Government leaflet that dropped through our letterboxes in Pevensey Bay today. On the inside opening page, the leaflet says, ‘It’s a big decision. One that will affect you, your family and your children for decades to come’.
The Bay Life straw poll, will stay on our homepage until the day before the EU Referendum on Thursday 23 June 2016.
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
