Lesson video

Hello.

My name's 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 for the campaigners for Remain?" It is part of the wider unit, "How has the UK adjusted to its changing relationship with the EU?" By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the arguments used by the Vote Remain Campaign.

The key words we're going to hear in today's lesson are: Control.

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

Vote Remain refers to the campaign group that wanted Britain to remain in the European Union.

It was officially called "Stronger In Europe." Economy is the state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money.

Keep an eye out for these key words in today's lesson.

We're going to start by thinking about what did Vote Remain argue about 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 a vote on a specific issue.

They quite often happen when there is an issue that some people might regard as contentious or have lots of different views.

In some cases, the government will open that decision out to the general public.

Normally, we have a system of representative democracy where the people that we vote to represent us are MPs, make decisions on our behalf.

However, sometimes the referendum happens.

This is an example of direct democracy where citizens are invited directly to get involved in the democratic process.

The Brexit referendum was another important referendum that incorporated lots of different opinions because it was an issue that divided people a lot around the country.

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

These included two official campaign groups: Vote Leave, who campaigned to leave the European Union; and Vote Remain also known as "Stronger In Europe," who wanted to stay in the European Union.

They campaigned to remain.

Both campaigns were cross political.

That means that they had support from all political parties, which meant that the arguments behind it spanned lots of different political views.

Today's lesson is going to look at the Vote Remain argument and how they put forward the arguments for staying within the European Union.

This campaign was supported by some high-profile figures.

At the time, the Prime Minister was David Cameron, and he supported the idea of remaining in the European Union.

The campaign set about making arguments about the UK.

These arguments were centred around three main ideas.

First, that the UK would have less control outside of the EU.

Second, that the UK would be poorer outside of the EU, and last that the UK could still be British, but be inside the EU.

Let's do a check.

What was Vote Remains alternative name? Was it A, Stronger in Europe; B, stronger Out of Europe; or C, Stronger Europe, Stronger Britain? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer was A, Stronger In Europe.

Vote Remain's first argument was that being part of the EU gave the UK greater freedoms than being outside of the group.

For example, the EU has a principle of free movement.

That means that people are able to work and move in different countries across the region.

It enabled UK citizens and other EU nationals to travel and work across member states without there being barriers.

Vote Remain argued that this free movement was crucial for people's quality of life.

Tourists benefited from quick queues at airports and activities like interrailing where people travel through Europe by train.

Vote Remain also stated that membership of the EU brought lots of benefits.

This included things like cheaper flights within Europe, cheaper roaming charges, so that's where you want to use internet on your mobile phone, and also things like the Erasmus programme.

The Erasmus programme allows students in universities to visit other places of learning within Europe.

It provides enriching opportunities to learn and make new friends in exciting cities across the EU.

Post Brexit, the UK is no longer a member of this programme.

Vote Remain also argued that outside the EU, the UK would lose control because it would no longer have a vote in the European Parliament, and that meant it would end up having to follow rules made by other countries.

For example, the EU created the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR.

This is a law protect people's data.

To ensure British businesses can still operate in the EU, they need to comply to GDPR.

Let's do another check.

Why did Vote Remain argue that Britain would have less control outside of the EU? Was it A, queues would be longer at airports as passports would change; B, Britain wouldn't have a vote in the European Parliament; or C, British students would be excluded from the Erasmus programme.

Pause your video and choose your answer.

The correct answer is B.

Opponents of the Vote Remain campaign accused them of project fear.

This meant that they were representing the worst case scenario if the UK exit the EU.

So playing on people's fears to get them to do the thing that we had done previously.

However, Vote Remain argued that even if outside the EU, the UK may still have to follow certain EU laws, so therefore it was better to stay in and influence the rules from the inside.

Another argument used by Vote Remain was that leaving the EU would not mean leaving the European Court of Human Rights, so the UK would still be influenced by it.

However, without a say in the EU, the UK ultimately has less control.

They still have to follow some of the rules but can't influence how those rules might change.

Vote Remain acknowledged that the EU had flaws but argued it was better to stay in and work to change it.

Let's do another check.

Vote Remain advocated for the UK to A, stay and change the EU; B, stay and just get on with it; or C, leave and ignore the EU? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer was A, stay and change the EU from the inside.

Let's put this into practise.

What were the main arguments of Vote Remain when it came to control? I'd like you to explain your answer in one paragraph.

Try to use the following terms in your answer: Benefits, Erasmus, the European Parliament, and rules.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

I asked you to explain the main arguments of Vote Remain when it came to control.

Your paragraph might have included some of the following.

Vote remain pointed out that the UK's membership in the EU had many benefits including allowing British citizens to enjoy cheaper European holidays, faster passport queues in airports and participation in programmes like Erasmus.

Vote Remain also argued that if the UK left the EU, it would lose control because they would have not have a vote in the European Parliament anymore.

That meant that they might find that the UK would still have to follow rules set by other countries.

They wouldn't have the opportunity to change or influence those rules though.

Next we're going to think about what did Vote Remain argue when it came to the economy? Vote Remain argued that the UK economy was better off because of its membership within the EU.

We know from our keywords that the economy is the state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money.

It's basically thinking about how all the money moves around within the system.

During campaigning, Vote Leave stated that the UK would be 350 million pounds better off per week if we left the EU.

Vote Remains strongly opposed this figure saying it did not account for any money that the UK received back from the EU.

In 2016, Britain received 5.

7 billion pounds from the EU.

They argued that lots of jobs that people were doing depend on the UK's membership in the EU.

For example, 41% of the UK's financial services were traded to the EU, so therefore this figure may not have been exact.

Let's do a check.

How much did Britain receive from the EU in 2016? Was it A, 5.

7 million; B, 5,700 pounds; or C, 5.

7 billion? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer is C.

Trade is vital for any country.

It allows countries to sell the goods and services that they produce to others.

When they sell, they can boost their economies and also create jobs within that production and services industries.

The EU is known as a single market.

What that means is that when they are part of the EU, member states have guaranteed access to the market of nearly 450 million people.

That means that countries within the EU can trade without paying tariffs.

Tariffs are examples of things that you pay in order to trade goods and services.

A lack of tariffs also meant that there was a lack of barriers to trade, so there is an argument that it might have made the economy stronger.

We can think of the single market like a big supermarket.

It provides countries with a place to buy and sell everything that they might need.

If countries in Europe don't have what they need within their own country, they can negotiate a better price with other countries around the world.

This is because collectively, they're bigger.

They're able to buy and sell more because they have the backing of this organisation, the EU, which makes their economy stronger.

Vote Remain argued that by exiting the EU, the UK would lose access to the single market, and that meant that they would lose trading partners and potentially have to pay different fees when trading with the same countries.

That meant that they would have to negotiate agreements with other countries both inside Europe and the rest of the world.

Vote Remain argued over the last decade, foreign companies had invested five 40 billion pounds into the UK equivalent to 148 million pounds every day.

This meant that they argue that that figure of 350 million pounds per week isn't accurate because it didn't necessarily take into consideration the amount of money that Britain spent alongside the amount of money that they came in.

So there's an argument that you had to balance up those two figures rather than just give the first amount.

Let's do another check.

Vote Remain argued that leaving the EU would mean the UK would no longer have access to what trading opportunity? was it A, the Euro; B, the single market; or C, trade with the USA? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer is B, the single market.

Let's put this into practise.

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

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

Your answer might have included some of the following.

Vote Remains stressed the importance of remaining in the European single market because it benefited the economy as it allowed the UK to trade with other Member States and guaranteed access to a market of nearly 450 million people.

This made it easier for businesses to trade with the EU countries without having to pay tariffs or face barriers.

Vote Remain also argued that by leaving the EU, the UK would be losing out on the billions of pounds of investments.

They gave an example of 5.

7 billion pounds being invested in 2016 alone.

The UK received this from the EU, and jobs were also created from selling services to the EU.

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

Next, we're going to think about what Vote Remain argued about national identity.

Identity is a really important part of who we are.

We have lots of different parts to our identity.

It might include things like our name.

It might include what country we were born in, maybe a country that we moved to when we were younger.

It might include things like our hobbies or a football team that we support.

All of these things come together and make your unique identity.

We have parts that we might share with different communities, whether that be our local, our national, or global communities.

National identity is one part of that and it relates to the nation that we feel that we are a part of.

For example, Sam was born in the United Kingdom and she calls herself British.

Laura was born in Scotland and calls herself Scottish.

Let's do a check.

True or false.

A person born in Britain can only be called British.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

Let's check our answers.

The correct answer is false.

This is because national identity is partly linked to country, but it's also linked to wider cultural identity.

Some people might see themselves as only British, whereas others may have links to other countries or cultures.

Since 1997, the UK began to move increasingly closer to Europe, not in terms of distance, but in terms of how they adopted identity.

We adopted the European Convention on Human Rights and created the Human Rights Act in 1998, which incorporated some of these laws into UK law.

Social attitude surveys identified that people were pro-European.

A social attitude survey is like a questionnaire that is sent out to people from different social groups at different points in history to get an understanding of how people feel about certain issues at different points.

Then we can compare it to other groups and also across different time periods.

So from these surveys, we can get an idea of how people felt about things like Europe or the EU at different time points within our history.

This happened within the 90s and the early 2000s.

Younger people were especially pro-European and more likely to benefit from moving overseas, whether that be to get a job or to study.

Vote Remain argued that that connection to Europe is a really important part of Britishness, a British identity.

They emphasise the role of Britain in liberating Europe from forces of fascism during World War II.

They also explained that our national sacrifices in the war were linked to the fact that we have Europeanness, not an isolated view of being British as something separate.

True or false.

Vote Remain said The UK should stay in Europe because together Europe won World War II.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

The correct answer is false.

Vote Remain argued not that they should stay together, but actually that Britain has always been part of Europe and therefore used the shared effort during World War II as an example of how British history is linked to Europe and European history.

Let's put this into practise.

I'd like you to summarise the main arguments of the Vote Remain campaign.

In this lesson, we have looked at the arguments behind control, behind the economy and behind the idea of national identity.

Pause a video and have a go at this now.

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

You might have said in terms of control that by staying in the EU, the UK could help shape laws.

Leaving the EU does not necessarily mean leaving things like the European Court of Human Rights.

The EU brought lots of benefits for people, for example, travel and education through the Erasmus programme.

In terms of the economy, you might have said the UK received lots of investment from the EU including 5.

7 billion pounds in 2016 alone.

That might make the economy stronger.

You could also say Britain benefited from jobs and trade in the European single market.

In terms of national identity, you might have said Britain and Europe have always been neighbours with shared history and culture, so therefore that should have been continued.

Or you might have said young people are more pro-European and therefore see the UK's future with Europe.

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

Today, we have been learning what were the key arguments of campaigners for Remain.

The Vote Remain campaign wanted the UK to stay in the EU.

They counted the three main arguments set out by the Leave campaign about the economy, national identity and control.

Vote Remain pointed out that the UK received significant amounts of money from Europe more than it paid in.

They outlined that the UK and Europe share a history of connection and argued that by being in the EU, the UK had greater control than it had outside of the EU as it would lose its voice in European Parliament.

So therefore argued that the UK should stay.

That's the end of today's lesson.

Thank you for joining me.