Lesson video

Hello.

My name is Ms. Ikomi, and I'm a teacher from London.

I'm going to be guiding you through today's lesson.

We've got lots to get through, so we're gonna get started.

Today's lesson is called What were the Key Arguments of Campaigners For Leave? It is part of the wider unit, How is the UK Adjusting Post Brexit? By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the arguments used by the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The key words we're going to hear in today's lesson are Vote Leave.

This refers to the campaign group that wanted Britain to leave the European Union.

Control.

In this context, this is a term used by the Vote Leave campaign to talk about Britain's ability to control its own land, laws, and money.

The economy.

This is the state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money.

We're going to start by thinking about what did Vote Leave argue when it came to control? In 2016, the UK held a referendum which asked the question, should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? A referendum is an example of direct democracy.

This is where citizens get the opportunity to directly vote on what they would like to happen.

Most of the time, the people that we elect to represent us make those decisions on our behalf, but sometimes, when there are issues that are contentious or people have lots of different views on, the government will call for a referendum.

This was an example of one of those.

Following the announcement of the referendum, different campaign groups were created.

There were two official campaign groups arguing for each side.

The first was Vote Leave.

They were campaigning to leave the European Union.

The next was Vote Remain.

They wanted to stay in the European Union and campaigned to remain.

Both campaigns were cross-political.

That meant that they had support from all political parties, so we had lots of different political views represented on each side.

Vote Leave campaign was supported by some high profile figures such as Boris Johnson, who at the time was the mayor of London.

The campaign set about making arguments about the UK.

They centred these arguments around some key ideas and said that these were the reasons why the UK would be better off leaving the European Union.

They argued that the UK would have more control outside of the European Union.

They argued that the UK would be wealthier outside of the European Union, and they argued that the UK would have the national identity of Britishness come back rather than seeing themselves as more European.

Vote Leave's first argument was that the European Union had too much control over the UK sovereignty.

Sovereignty refers to a country's ability to make its own decisions.

It argued that the EU had too much control over the type of laws that we had to pass within the UK.

They also argued that borders were a key issue, how people could move in and out of a country's borders.

Vote Leave's slogan was "Take back control", not of only these two examples of laws and borders, but other issues surrounding the UK's sovereignty.

Let's do a check.

What did Vote Leave's three arguments relate to? Pause your video and have a go at this now.

Vote Leave's three arguments related to control, the economy, and national identity.

We're gonna think about all of these in more depth today.

The European Union runs on a principle of free movement.

That means that people who are part of it are able to move between countries and states without having barriers to that movement.

This enabled UK citizens and also other EU nationals to travel across member states, and they were able to work and live in all of these different places.

It also meant that people could go on holiday in those places without necessarily needing to get a visa.

Vote Leave raised concerns about high levels of immigration, resulting from this free movement.

They argued that people coming into the UK was putting pressure on public services within the UK.

That could include things like housing and where people were going to live, the jobs and whether there was enough jobs for people within the different nations, particularly, thinking about low skilled workers in the UK.

The campaign suggested that leaving the EU would allow the UK to take control of its borders, reduce immigration, and consequently, reduce some of the pressure that the UK public services would see.

The EU also created laws and regulation that impacted the UK.

This impacted the UK in areas such as trade, workers' rights, and the environment.

Trade was impacted by the fact that the UK had to follow the European Union's trade rules.

Workers' rights had to be adhered to according what the two, what the European Union set out.

The environment and policies surrounding the environment had to follow the European Union's rules and conventions on this.

Vote Leave argued that all of these areas alongside other areas when it came to laws and regulations meant that the UK had less control over its own country.

This idea of sovereignty having freedom to make decision in a country was lessened.

One argument that they used was that the European Court of Human Rights was changing UK laws.

Andeep is telling us the European Court of Human Rights ensures that European countries are following human rights.

Alex is telling us, if a country has a law that might breach human rights, a person or group can bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Overall, the aim of this is to help enforce human rights laws.

However, there are arguments that has taken away national sovereignty of individual countries.

An example of the European Court of Human Rights impacting the UK was around voting rights.

Lots of people who are over the age of 18 in the UK have the right to vote, whether that be in local or national elections.

The UK blocked prisoners from voting when they were in prison.

However, in 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that this violated the European Convention of Human Rights.

That's because the convention states that everybody who is eligible and who is over the age of 18 has the right to vote for the people that will be leading them.

It wasn't until 2017 that the UK proposed changes that the Council of Europe deemed sufficient to comply with the ruling.

So (indistinct) that there was an influence on UK law that came from the European Court of Human Rights.

Let's do a check.

Vote Leave argued that which body was taking away control of the UK's laws.

Was it A, the European Council, B, the European Parliament, or C, the European Court of Human Rights? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer is C, the European Court of Human Rights.

Let's put this into practise.

What were the main arguments of Vote Leave when it comes to control? I'd like you to explain your answer in a paragraph.

I'd like you to try and use some of the following words in your answer, free movement, public services, borders, and foreign judges.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

I asked you to outline the main arguments of Vote Leave when it came to control.

You might have included some of the following in your answer.

Vote Leave argued that the UK needed to take back control.

They argued that the EU's rule about free movement made it easy for people from the UK and other member states to travel and work in different countries.

They said that this caused problems because a lot of people were coming to the UK, putting pressure on things like public services, housing, and jobs.

They said the UK should leave the EU so it could control both its borders and decide who's coming into the country.

Vote Leave also argued that the European Court of Human Rights undermined the UK's control over its own laws.

They argued that the European Court of Human Rights allowed foreign judges to rule on cases that could pressure Parliament to amend legislation or change laws.

Well done if you included some of that in your answer.

Next, we're going to think about what did the Vote Leave campaign argue about the economy.

We know that the economy is all of the money that is moving around a particular region or country.

Vote Leave argued that the economy was negatively impacted by our membership within the EU.

We know that the economy doesn't only refer to money, but is also thinking about the production and consumption of goods and services, so bear that in mind as we're thinking about it.

Vote Leave argued that the UK was spending 315 million pounds every week on membership within the EU.

They argued that British taxpayers were sending this money to the EU and didn't have a say on where the money was being spent or have any hope of seeing any benefit from that money.

They argued alternatively, that money could be spent within the UK on services that would support those people paying those taxes.

Vote Leave argued that 350 million pounds per week could fund a new NHS hospital.

However, opponents argued that this figure wasn't exactly accurate because it did not account for the money that the UK received back from the EU in various different services.

Let's do a check.

How much should Vote Leave say Britain sent the EU each week? Was it A, 350 pounds, B, 350,000 pounds, or C, 350 million pounds? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer was C.

The euro is the official currency used by lots of different European Union member countries.

The euro, much like lots of different currencies, goes up and down in terms of how strong it is compared to other currencies around the world.

The euro had experienced some difficulties in the years leading up to the referendum.

For example, countries like Greece had growing deficits.

That meant that they were spending more money than they earned and were unable to make the budget balance.

In response, in 2010, the UK and other EU countries agreed to a rescue package for Greece.

That meant that there had to be reforms in exchange for financial support.

It was helping prevent the country from going bankrupt.

That meant declaring that they could not pay for different services.

Vote Leave argues that if the UK remained in the EU, it would be forced to send money to foreign governments again, and use this example of Greece as an example of how this could happen.

They argued that hardworking British people shouldn't be forced to pay for foreign governments who weren't able to manage their economy properly.

Vote Leave also claimed that being in the EU stopped the UK from making its own trade deals with countries around the world that weren't members.

They were restricted by having to follow the trade agreements and regulations set out by the EU.

They believe that leaving the EU would allow the UK to negotiate its own deals, getting better terms with countries outside of Europe.

Let's do a check.

Which country required a bailout during the Euro financial crisis? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer is Greece.

Let's put this into practise.

I'd like you to explain to your partner what Vote Leave's main arguments relating to the economy were.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

I asked you to explain to your partner what Vote Leave's main arguments related to the economy were.

You might have included some of the following.

Vote Leave tried to outline the case for leaving the EU based on the economy.

They argued that the UK paid 350 million pounds to the EU each week.

This was enough to pay for a new NHS hospital.

The campaign also stated that the Euro was an unstable currency, and for as long as the UK was part of the EU, it would have to pay for other member states, like Greece, who had mishandled their economy.

As such, British taxpayers would always be paying to support other member states, meaning there was less money available to spend in Britain.

Additionally, Vote Leave argued that leaving the EU would allow the UK to negotiate its own trade deals with countries around the world that might lead to better economic opportunities.

Well done if you included some of that in your answer.

Next, we're going to think about what did Vote Leave argue when it came to national identity.

Identity is an important part of who we are.

There are a lot of different parts that make up our identity.

Perhaps the culture we were born into, the country we were born into, perhaps things like our hobbies, maybe the football team that we support.

One important part of our national identity is related to the nation that we feel that we're a part of.

For example, Sam was born in the United Kingdom.

She calls herself British.

However, Laura was born in Scotland, and she calls herself Scottish.

You don't only have to adopt the national identity of the country that you were born in.

Our identity isn't necessarily fixed.

It might change throughout our lives, for example, if we move to a different country and learn a language.

Let's put this into practise.

True or false, a person's identity is given at birth and is unchangeable.

Pause your video and choose your answer now.

Can you also have a think about why you've chosen your answer? The correct answer is false.

This is because a person could define their own identity such as their national identity.

Some people might see themselves as European, Scottish, or British.

It depends entirely on that person.

Since 1997, the UK began to move increasingly closer to Europe, not distance-wise, but in terms of their identities and thinking about how we came together in terms of laws and regulations.

The UK adopted the European Convention on Human Rights by creating the Human Rights Act in 1998.

This brought key features of the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law.

Social attitude surveys also identified that people were pro-European in the period of time between the 1990s and the early 2000s.

Younger people were especially pro-European.

They were more likely to benefit from moving overseas for work and study, so that meant they had quite a pro-Europe view.

Vote Leave campaigned on the idea that the UK was a strong and proud nation and should not be forced to follow the laws of a foreign government, the EU.

They claim that by voting to leave, the UK would be free again to make decisions about their national identity and take back controls of its laws, this idea of sovereignty that we were speaking about earlier.

The Vote Leave Campaign therefore viewed European identity as conflicting with British identity.

One idea proposed by some in the EU is European integration.

European integration is the idea of bringing European countries closer together to create a more united collective European identity.

This might mean things like closer political, economic, and social ties between countries.

The Vote Leave Campaign didn't like this idea of European integration.

They argued that more integration would mean the UK would lose control over its decisions.

This might be related to laws and borders or other things.

The Vote Leave Campaign believed that the UK should stay independent and not be forced into a closer union with other EU member states, which might happen if we had stayed in the European Union.

Let's do a check.

True or false? All British people are pro-European.

Choose your answer and have a think about why you've chosen your answer.

The correct answer is false.

This is because Britain is a diverse country.

That means that we have lots of different people that have lots of different views.

Some people, especially younger people, were shown to be pro-European within social attitude surveys, but this doesn't apply to everyone.

Let's put this into practise.

I'd like you to summarise the main arguments of the Vote Leave campaign in regards to control, economy, and national identity.

These were the three main points that were made by this campaign.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

I asked you to summarise the main arguments of the Vote Leave campaign.

You might have included some of the following in your answer.

When it comes to control, you might have said the free movement allowed people to travel and work easily across the EU.

This put pressure on UK services, and so leaving would give back control or sovereignty over those borders.

There was also an argument that foreign judges could challenge Britain's laws, and the example of the European Court of Human Rights was given.

In terms of the economy, you could have said Britain was sending 350 million pounds to Europe every week.

You could have said the Euro crisis meant that Britain had to bail out member states, like Greece, who had mishandled their economies, and that money could be spent better within the UK.

Last, this idea of national identity.

Voting to leave the EU was argued to give Britain the chance to be free from Europe.

As a sovereign country, a country that makes its own laws, Britain would be free to make our own laws again and not be restricted by European regulations.

Well done if you included some of that in your answer.

We have been learning today what the key arguments were for Vote Leave campaign.

The Vote Leave campaign wanted Britain to leave the EU.

They set out three main arguments surrounding the economy, the idea of national identity, and the idea of control.

Vote Leave said that the UK needed to take back control of its borders against the EU's freedom of movement, which might put Britain at risk and have an impact on some of the public services and housing within the UK.

They argued that the UK sent more money to Europe, 350 million pounds per week, than it received.

Finally, they argued that leaving the EU was a chance to be proud of the UK again, by rejecting European laws and demands.