We are living in worrying times, with our society at risk of becoming more and more polarised and with blame, grievance and division on the rise. Our politics is increasingly about sharpening battle lines and defining our country between “us and them”. That reached a new low last week when Nigel Farage posed in front of (and sought to make political capital from) a poster of desperate refugees, many of whom were children, stranded on the Slovenia-Croatia border.
But public life, whether in politics or elsewhere, should be about something else – something better. It should be driven by a desire to bring people together when it would be easier to tear them apart. A wish to build bridges rather than walls. A fundamental belief in the principle that we are stronger together than we are apart. This is the kind of Britain that we all want to live in. Peaceful, tolerant, compassionate.
On Thursday, our country faces a stark choice. There is a lot at stake in the EU referendum. The future of our economy. Our prosperity, not just now, but for years to come. The prospects for our children. Even our place in the world is at stake and with it the influence we can bring to bear on global challenges such as climate change and international terrorism. But there is something more fundamental at stake: the sort of country we are. A democracy where disagreements do not degenerate into incivility and where debate is not used to divide our communities.
We have a chance as a country to reject division, isolationism and blame. To choose co-operation. For the future of our children, that is a chance we must take.
Tony Blair former Labour prime minister; Lord Heseltine former Conservative deputy prime minister; Nick Clegg, former leader of the Liberal Democrats; Caroline Lucas former leader of the Green Party; Brendan Barber former general secretary of the TUC; Shami Chakrabarti former director of Liberty; Baroness Lawrence Labour peer and anti-racism campaigner; Richard Lambert former director general of the CBI; Craig Bennett CEO of Friends of the Earth;; Sir Richard Lambert former Director General of the CBI; Craig Bennett chief executive, Friends of Earth.London SW1
The question of freedom of movement of EU citizens has been deliberately linked to the world problem of mass migration (“Immigration fears can no longer be ignored”, Editorial).
The only way to reduce the causes of mass migration is to raise the standard of living of the peoples in the relevant countries. We have not been “overwhelmed” by immigration from the EU. On the contrary, agriculture, the universities, NHS, environment and indeed tax receipts have benefited. The perceived loss of sovereignty has largely occurred through the diktats of banking and the development of corporations crossing national borders with apparent impunity. Reverting to an island state mentality can only reduce what financial and moral influence we currently enjoy throughout the world through generations of effort and sacrifice from many millions of our citizens.
Norman Muddeman
Beccles,
Suffolk
Your editorial is right to question whether freedom of movement can be consistent with maintaining the legitimacy of the EU. It is this which must inform Labour’s crucial campaign to influence voters to remain. To succeed, the party must assure its supporters that central to Labour’s “remain and reform” campaign will be working with parties and unions across Europe to enable nation states to strengthen border controls. Such an approach would redeem Labour in the eyes of its traditional voters and also persuade waverers to vote to stay in a Europe that will prioritise their concerns about uncontrolled migration.
Colin Hines
East Twickenham
