Is it that time already?
Thanks to everyone for their views, we’ve shut comments now and will be closing the live blog shortly.
Thanks again for taking part in the debate, which we run every Wednesday at 12pm BST. Any suggestions for future debate topics? You can mail me on james.walsh@theguardian.com or my colleague Sarah Marsh on sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
'I’m not voting Remain just because I’m afraid'
We’ve heard from a citizen living near the border in Northern Ireland, an area with particular reason to be concerned about a Leave vote, as Esther Addley reported for the Guardian last week.
Aoife is 28, from Derry, and writes:
“I’m from a border community in Northern Ireland and I’m terrified about the ramifications that a Leave vote could have here. Crossing the border is a daily fact of life for us. Our communities are so intertwined. We move between Ireland the UK, sterling and Euro, miles and kilometres, every day without a second thought. There are no border controls, no customs offices, no security posts. What’s going to happen to us if the UK votes to leave the EU.
“I’m skeptical about claims that the border can remain open - my parents are old enough to remember a time when crossing the border was not so easy. If we suddenly become the frontier of the United Kingdom how will this impact the day to day life of the people who live in my town?
“We’re already one of the poorest areas in the UK with a severe shortage of jobs. Walk through Derry city and you’ll see billboards advertising EU investment everywhere - at Ebrington Square, the Peace Bridge, the Fort George Science Park. The EU is crucial in stimulating our economy and providing jobs. What will happen to these EU funded projects if we leave?
“I’m not voting Remain just because I’m afraid. I see the positive impact that the EU has had in my life and I’m proud to live in an EU member state. I took part in the Erasmus scheme as a student and my friends have found jobs in cities across the EU where they’ve settled and built lives for themselves so easily. The EU has played such a huge role in funding research, in setting minimum standards for employees rights, in environmental protections. I see it as a positive force.
“Last week Wolfgang Schäuble confirmed what many of us in the Remain camp already know about the choice we face on 23 June. In is in and out is out. I want to be in.”
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'It's frustrating that my mother wants to vote Leave'
It’s not all happy families in the Robinson household. One son who is voting to Remain has found himself at odds with his mother.
“My mother wishes to vote Leave and it frustrates me that she can’t express concrete reasons for this choice. Since we live in an EU country and she often comes to visit, it’s not hard to imagine ways in which a Leave vote would make her life worse.”
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'Is my life in UK coming to an end? will I have to sell my house? will I have to get a visa?'
Comments are back, by the way. And to prove it, here are a couple more interesting view points, one from a reader who worries about the demographic division revealed by the debate, and one from an EU citizen based in the UK.
is my life in UK coming to an end? will I have to sell my house? will I have to get a visa? of course I'm worried. I blame politicians for using migration as an excuse for every issue. Most of migrants have no right to vote in general election hence can't respond in a democratic way. Seems it's gone too far, English political class will learn from this crisis, sad that yet again it will come at an expense of the whole society and migrants in particular.
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I think we’re having a few problems with our comments at the moment, which isn’t ideal. Hopefully they’ll be back shortly - in the meantime, we’ll post more views from our embedded form, which is still open for business.
Here is a photo of Nigel Farage on a boat by means of apology.
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'I'm enjoying it'
We’re glad to hear some of you are enjoying the discussion around the referendum. Whether you’re in the Remain or Leave camp better to go out and vote - even if it is to spoil your ballot:
I think the referendum is great. Even though it might be almost impossible to make a decision (no clear option) it still forces us to grapple with fairly complex politics and come to a conclusion. This is inherently democratic, which I like.
During the debates I have seen so far there have been people saying nobody is giving me the facts. I think is ultimately there are no facts. It's about the future. Inform yourself as best you can and make a decision. Or even spoil your ballot.
I'm enjoying it.
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Allan Wynne Jones, who describes himself as “a youngish 75,” is the rarest of things in today’s debate - a Remain campaigner who is having a whale* of a time. In Wales.
“With eight other like minded, bilingual I MEWN / REMAIN supporters I have spent most of this morning drumming up support in the lively Machynlleth street market.
“It’s been a cathartic and heart warming experience. Permit me one social, perhaps pseudo scientific, observation: happy people who smiled were invariably voting IN, grumpy, bitter ones were wanting OUT. Welsh speakers and young people also tended to be Remain supporters.”
* Sorry.
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'I try to stay away from the news. The Euros are a great comfort at the moment'
Fifty-eight-year-old Andrew Davies who lives in the Netherlands feels powerless now that he can no longer vote.
“Some of my friends are telling me I worry too much but I feel I have invested much of my life in being an EU citizen,” he said. “I have worked on EEC/EU projects on disability and have first-hand experience of knowing how beneficial such social programmes are.
“I actually try to stay away from the news. The Euros are a great comfort to me, especially knowing that the Netherlands are not competing this time (my one source of happiness)!
“When I came here more than 30 years ago, I came with the optimism of a 25-year old and it is an optimism I have clung on to in spite of what is going on around me. I never expected attitudes in Britain to become so isolationist and for people to be so misinformed about Europe and the EU.
“I am absolutely livid that I do not have a vote in this referendum. I actually feel it means more to me than my fellow citizens living in the UK. I stand more than most to lose if the UK decides to leave.”
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We’ve found a happy Brexiter.
I am getting increasingly happy and upbeat as the polls awing towards Brexit.
It's a great time to be British. About to lead the way to a better future for Europe by shattering the misguided EU.
'I dread what comes next either way'
Another below the line comment from a Remain voter, who fears what future forces this campaign might unleash.
I see the EU as a positive force, if imperfect, and multinational standards as the only way to prevent a race to the bottom on tax evasion, workers' rights, environmental protections and many other issues. It's deeply depressing that this argument has barely been heard in the campaign.
I fear the economic stagnation and market volatility that would follow a Leave vote, but I also fear the rising tide of intolerance, dogwhistle racism, cynical populism and resistance to evidence. Perversely, I suspect that this tendency would only get worse after a Remain vote, especially a narrow one, whereas if Leave wins, the demagogues running that campaign would probably lose all credibility as their promises and assurances turn out to be hot air. Then again, that may well cause them to search for other scapegoats for their own failure, an all too familiar pattern.
I'll be voting Remain, and hoping desperately for a win, but I dread what comes next either way. This is clearly a country that isn't happy with the status quo, but doesn't know what would be better and isn't interested in listening to evidence. That's a very dangerous mix.
Anyone reading who is voting for Brexit, but is worrying about the vote? Or are you generally happy with how the debate has gone?
'It's not the potential economic doom that's keeping me up at night it's the irreversible damage to society'
For silkmonkey, there has been a visible change in the way people are with each other in the workplace:
I'm a remainer but it's not the potential economic doom that's keeping me up at night it's the irreversible damage I feel this is doing to society. We had a shared lunch yesterday at work and people were stopping each other sitting on tables if they were in or out respectively. It was terrifying to see. There's a sense of gloating (as a remainer it seems to all come from leave but I suspect I would think the opposite if I was a leaver) that I think whichever side wins is going to be alienating huge parts of the country, and assuming it's close that could be nearly 50%. What happens then? Where do those people vent their unhappiness. And if we leave what happens when there's a realisation that all of the problems in the UK aren't caused by the EU and immigration? We've opened the lid on something potentially very dark and you can't put that back in the box. If there were good leaders awaiting on the otherside I think I would be less anxious but the idea that Farage and Johnson are going to be leading that unleashed anger, that is what is keeping me up at night.
I don't want to be living in a country that's too busy arrogantly naval gazing to realise they've limited our ability to be part of anything.
Commenter Michael East is concerned about similar issues where previously ‘unacceptable opinions’ are now considered to be ‘fair game’:
It's not the referendum per se that has me concerned, rather the traction that xenophobia has gained in this country through the rhetoric of the Leave campaign and the continual anti-immigration, anti-Islam, pro-isolationist views of the right wing press.
It seems that what we once would have discarded as the unacceptable opinions of the likes of the BNP, we now consider to be fair game for open discussion, that bigotry is now publicly acceptable again in this country.
Leave has turned the EU referendum to being one about immigration and played a Trumpist game, playing on fears of "immigrant rapists" giving every closet bigot the confidence to come out and shout from the rooftops about how immigration has "damaged" our country, with little view as to the facts.
The views espoused by many within the Leave campaign on social media are repugnant and couple with the rise of the likes of the Front National in France leave me concerned for the direction of both Britain and Europe, no matter the outcome of the EU referendum.
In satire news, there appears to be a Voty McBoatface battle taking place on the Thames at the moment. If you’re worried, perhaps some light relief is needed.
'A moment that is meant to be a real advert for democracy feels lost'
Next Thursday feels like a dark cloud looming on the horizon, the ominous backdrop to a week of horrific news events. Usually I look forward to the opportunity to vote - it’s a privilege not enjoyed everywhere in the world and I feel lucky to be able to exercise my rights. But with this referendum it feels like so much more is being played out than simply the question of whether Britain should remain in the EU; it’s about battlelines within parties and political point scoring as much as it is about people’s feelings towards our political leaders or huge complex issues like immigration.
What’s keeping me up at night is the thought that there’s not enough open discussion of the latter and still not enough being heard from voters across all parts of the UK when this is a vote that could affect generations beyond our own. It doesn’t feel like either side is doing a good enough job of educating and informing - there’s too much scaremongering or playing to the individual. As a result discussions about the referendum have felt reactionary, a result of the disjointed - and sometimes entirely absent - overarching narratives of either campaign.
Many people are angry about levels of immigration - not just EU migrants to the UK. I don’t feel there’s been enough done to separate out these issues by either the government or remain camp. Without properly engaging with and understanding these concerns, I fear that people will be voting in anger, voting for any change to express their discomfort. A moment that is meant to be a real advert for democracy - asking the people for their input - feels lost to me because the campaigns have failed to get into the issues that will affect most people’s decisions. I was angry, now I’m very, very disappointed.
'I feel as though my contributions in this country are questioned'
Our form is still open to contributions, if you’re lacking in a commenting account.
A reader called Rita has contacted us via said form, to offer her experience as a Hungarian EU citizen living in Sheffield. It’s worth remembering that EU citizens resident and working in the UK are unable to vote in the EU referendum, which adds to the sense of powerlessness.
“As one of those immigrants who seems to become the scapegoat in this referendum, I am indeed experiencing high levels of stress on a daily basis. The past month or two the debate has become a migrant-bashing, little-Englander talk, which suggests that Europeans migrants are just stealing things, such as benefits *and* jobs.
“In the past five and a half years I haven’t experienced xenophobia, I’ve always regarded this country as open and welcoming. Though when leafleting for Bremain I was told that it’s the immigrants at fault for all problems the country is facing and it was them who were changing the face of Britain beyond recognition. I don’t sound too foreign to be spotted, hence the ‘honest’ remarks I’d assume.
“I feel as though my contributions in this country are questioned, along with my right to be here. I am becoming increasingly worried about my interactions with strangers, I am worried about talking in Hungarian too loud, and I am thinking / reading / talking about this issue way too much. I am fearful that a post-Brexit Britain will bring about a long-gone way of talking about, and treating of the ‘other’.
“I also feel I have to question my longterm plan of staying: partly as my European identity and afiliation is strong and important, and partly as I am worried about how an isolated Britain would treat immigrants like myself.”
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‘I love Europe but the EU political entity is not for me’
Not all Brexiters hate Europe as RexAnglorum eloquently puts it below:
I'm voting Leave.
I love Europe as a collection of vibrant, rich and beautiful cultures with old traditions and identities. I've spent more than half my adult life living on the European mainland and elsewhere outside the UK. The majority of my friends are non-British and they accept and respect my decision and viewpoints without any hostility or friction of any sort.
I love being English, British and European I also look forward to visiting (and perhaps living in) more great countries on such a wonderful continent again.
However, the EU political entity is not for me. No thanks. Voting Leave.
As my colleague James pointed out, not only are some of you not losing sleep but one or two of your are even - wait for it - happy.
Though still undecided about how he will vote, Londoner Gene thinks it’s great that there’s debate around the referendum. “I’m happy to see people who were once apathetic on a range of social issues being politicized,” he said.
“Yes I’m a little worried but let’s be brave. We don’t want to scare people into Brexit, do we?”
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'I worry that a 'leave' vote is a vote against all these people'
A commenter with family ties across the EU has posted their fears about the practical and philosophical implications of a Brexit vote:
My wife is from a 2004-entry EU country. We live in a third EU country, neither the UK nor her country. My wife's daughter from her first marriage is married to a British man, and they are living in the UK with their three children. My wife's daughter has lived in the UK since 2009 but has no vote in this election. My own children hold dual citizenship, UK and my wife's nationality, although only one of them actually has a UK passport at present. Neither of them was born in the UK. I worry that a 'leave' vote is a vote against all these people, an expression of hatred for anyone mixed like them, for all 'Europeans' who are not fully 'British'. I worry that as a Briton living in the EU who intends to continue living in the EU, a 'leave' vote will increase hostility towards me and other Britons in the EU, even though most of us will vote 'remain'. This is only to talk about some of the most emotional parts of the issue. There will be all sorts of worries about practical matters for many members of my family if the UK votes 'leave'.
'We will see what the result is and then make the best of it'
Happy to report that not everyone in the comments is losing sleep over the threat of Brexit.
It doesnt worry me in the slightest, I know and have known which way I would vote for months. I dont trust polls in anyway. We will see what the result is and then make the best of it. Its not the end of the world.
The EU referendum debate has felt endless and deeply, deeply worrying. If Dante were around today doubtless he’d imagine a special circle of hell filled with the big hitters of the Leave and Remain campaign, with their post-truth buses, apocalyptic warnings of economic doom, and borderline racist leaflets.
But attempting to imagine a post-Brexit future is heartbreaking if you’re pro-European. Studying postwar politics, the growth of Europe into the rich and diverse place it’s become today seems faintly miraculous. Rejecting all we’ve achieved together due to a lack of political will to tackle the migration crisis: yes. It does keep me up all night. I worry what Britain is to become, and what place me and my peers have within it.
Maybe it’s a generational thing. The son of an immigrant, I went to university during the early Blair days of pro-EU optimism, and was able to share ideas and beers with people from across the continent. As a Londoner, many of my friends are either EU citizens worrying about their post-Brexit status or non-EU migrants wondering what the knock-on effect of the anti-migration fervour will have on their future visa statuses.
It feels like Britain (or, at least, England) has become a less tolerant, more reactionary and more fearful country over the past few months and years. What started as an internal Conservative power struggle has become a toxic national debate. Whichever way the vote goes next Thursday - and a personal view is that a Leave vote would be economically and politically disastrous - it feels like plenty of damage to our national discourse has already been done.
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'Last night I phoned my parents almost in tears'
Another comment, from a 23 year old who worries for her generation’s economic future.
I'm 23 years old, and last night I phoned my parents almost in tears because of my fear what will happen to me if we vote to leave the EU, hoping they might have something reassuring to say. But they’re also glum, because they’re just as likely as I am to end up unemployed in the ensuing recession. The only difference is that they would still have a house to live in, whereas I rent.
I have plenty of noble reasons for supporting our membership of the EU, but my selfish reason is that it's just not fair. Around 75% of under-25s want us to Remain, we’re the ones who have to live with the consequences the longest and we’ll feel the hurt if we have to spend the primes of our careers in the post-Brexit mess.
I wanted to spend my 20s saving for a house, working in the job I love (and spent four years studying to get), maybe go travelling around a bit, then settle down and live my life. It’s easy to see from inside my employer that we’ll be seriously hurt by a Brexit and become very uncompetitive globally – that’s a certainty, not just speculation. My long term career prospects rely on Remain winning this referendum.
The only thing cheering me up is that I have the skills and qualifications to get a job abroad - but effectively next Thursday decides whether I have a future in the country I grew up in and wanted to spend my future in, and that’s upsetting and worrying for me on a day to day basis.
Comments are open below the line, and will be until 2pm. Unleash your views upon us, and we’ll post a selection of them above the line.
Here are a couple of early comments. Fwaffy is worried what the debate has revealed about the UK’s mindset:
What is most alarming about the debate is what it has revealed about the mindset of so many people in the UK today. Fear and loathing, in this case of immigrants, because people need a scapegoat for the state the country’s in, and the Tories on either side of the debate aren’t going to admit that the reason public services are struggling is because the government has run them into the ground.
From the Washington Post: "Countries don't usually commit economic suicide, but in Britain, millions seem ready to give it a try." And for what? Because people don't like hearing Polish spoken in a supermarket queue? It’s idiotic, it's deeply ugly and I'm worried about where it will end.
Meanwhile this commenter is worried by what he or she sees as a rise in xenophobia:
It's shocking to find that so many people hate what I love. I do like like to hear Polish, and Chinese and Arabic and Bengali. The level of diversity is by far and away the best thing about this country. The whitebread dystopia that many Brexiters seem to have in mind sounds like a soulless, oppressive hell.
All this talk about what may and may not happen after 23 June has caused people like Brian Condron to lose sleep over the issue.
“I have constant feelings of stress since the polls indicated a leave victory,” the 34-year-old from Dublin said. “The crash of 2009 remains large in my mind as I was out of work for a long time and do not wish to return to those dark days. The UK exit from the EU increases uncertainty and will produce a shockwave that may just cause something similar.
“Even though I don’t have a vote, I fear that the next decade will be spent negotiating complex treaties to keep the UK/Irish border open. I’m also worried about how we will keep the UK market trading goods and services with the EU, as well as European safety and workers rights standards to at least the level they are now.”
A 52-year-old reader who would prefer to remain anonymous said they have nightmares about Brexit. “It’s the most unimaginable case of economic, social and national suicide I have ever heard of,” they said. “I fear that the EU will disintegrate one country at a time. The fledgling democracies in Eastern Europe will become destabilised and become prey to darker forces. We will have no real friends around the world due to our supreme arrogance. There will be no cause to celebrate.”
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Some of you living in Europe have already been in touch to tell us your concerns about a possible Brexit.
Forty-year-old Ben who lives in Switzerland and will be voting Remain feels the debate is “more of a shouting match” than an informed discussion. “I want to move my family back to England in 2017 having lived in Switzerland for the last six years,” he said. “Being out of the EU will certainly make it a more difficult process.”
Living in the Netherlands, DutchBrit has fallen out with some of their friends and family over the issue. “I’m worried about the future need for work permits and visas,” they said. “There could also be implications on property that we live in and own, and I’m even considering the possibility of applying for Dutch citizenship if the UK leaves the EU.”
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Getting worried yet?
With just over a week to go until the EU referendum, polls increasingly suggest that Brexit is a very real possibility. While thinktanks warn of the long term consequences and the chancellor George Osborne threatens more austerity in a post-Brexit budget, these are unsettling times whether you’re inclined to vote Leave, Remain, or are still undecided.
How is the debate affecting your mood, health and happiness? Has Project Fear tactics (from both sides) left you fearful, or are you optimistic about how Britain might look after next Thursday’s vote? Has the debate led you to fall out with friends and family? Are you waking up in the middle of the night to make sudden plans for the future? Are you an EU citizen worried about the implications of a Brexit vote?
Or are you a Leave supporter who is unsettled by the current uncertainty, or are you merely excited about a post-Brexit Britain?
Let us know what you think. Join us 12pm-2pm today to debate live below the line. Don’t have a commenting account, or would rather share your views via an anonymous form? No problem - fill in the form at the bottom of this article.
What worries me the most is the demographic division in all of this. The vast majority of the leavers I know are aged 50-plus. They have houses, job security (many are retired), savings, some degree of wealth - basically a cushion to protect them against whatever might happen in the event of Brexit. If there is a negative impact on the British economy, it will barely affect them, if at all. The irony is that they have achieved this wealth and success during a time in which the UK was a member of the EU, so it has evidently not hindered or hobbled their ability to live their lives, buy a house, get a job and secure a future. Yet now they want to pull up the drawbridge by changing the conditions under which they prospered, all in an unspecified hope that it'll 'make Britain great again'.
The older generation are gambling on Brexit, but they're not gambling with their own money. They're gambling with that of their children and grandchildren.