Students demand the right to vote on future
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NEARLY 100 students and lecturers have penned an open letter calling for Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk to back a People’s Vote.
A total of 54 University of Gloucestershire students signed the statement which argues leaving the EU will make Britain “a poorer and meaner country”.
And 35 leading figures in education in and around the county – including University of Gloucestershire lecturers – have written a separate letter which says Brexit would be “little short of catastrophic”.
Both letters air fears over the future of educational standards, job prospects and opportunities for the young.
Conservative MP Mr Chalk did not provide a response to the letters but he expressed support for Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal when it was announced on November 14.
The anti-brexit pressure group Cheltenham for Europe branded the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement as “a humiliating loss of our sovereignty”.
Chairman Philip Cole said: “Who is she aiming to appease? The Brexiteers in her own ranks? But many of them say staying in the EU would be a better outcome.
“The Remainers? But they want to remain in the EU because they know it works for us and for future generations.
‘We have reached crunch time. We call on our MPS to do what they are supposed to do: act in their constituents’ interests.
“In other words, with the May deal a non-starter and no deal a disaster, they must now support a People’s Vote because only that can save us from the own goal of Brexit.”
THE LETTER FROM STUDENTS
Dear Alex Chalk,
We, the undersigned, are students at the University of Gloucestershire. We write to voice our strong objection to leaving the EU.
Brexit threatens the high standards of education we receive. Research funding will be cut, the language schools depleted, essential staff from the EU lost. Britain will be perceived as an unwelcoming place: this will deter foreign students from applying to the University with a consequent drop in fees and loss of cross cultural learning.
Our studies cost us time, money, effort. We want to put them to good use yet our future is now uncertain. Our job prospects will be limited: our opportunities to work, study or live abroad restricted. We will live in a poorer and meaner country.
We are the generation who will suffer disproportionally the adverse consequences of Brexit yet most of us were too young to have voted in the referendum. Now that the damaging effects of Brexit are being highlighted by so many sectors – business, manufacturing, financial institutions, agriculture, health, scientific research institutions, security, the arts – we demand the right to vote on the terms of our future.
We call on you to support the People’s Vote which must include the option to Remain.