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UKIP
UK News

Christian UKIP MEP calls two anti-EU campaigns to unite

by Aaron James

Jonathan Arnott was speaking after MPs from various political parties and millionaires launched the Vote Leave campaign, ahead of the referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union in 2017.

Vote Leave is the second of two campaigns calling for the electorate to vote to leave the EU, the other being the UKIP-affiliated 'leave.eu' campaign.

The UKIP MP Douglas Carswell has come out in favour of Vote Leave, suggesting a disconnect between him and his own party's leave.eu campaign.

Only one of the two anti-EU campaigns will get official backing from the Electoral Commission, with a pro-EU campaign getting backing too.

Official campaign groups which get Electoral Commission approval are allowed to spend £7m - more than normal - to issue campaign broadcasts and post free mail outs to households.

They also get access to public meeting rooms and the electoral register, and public grants of up to £600,000.

Eurosceptics argue that Britain has lost sovereignty since joining the European Union because EU laws - which the public did not vote for - can override British ones.

They argue Britain could better use the money saved from leaving the EU - approximately £350m a week according to Labour MP Kate Hoey.

They also argue that the EU's freedom of movement policy damages Britain, because it leaves Britain unable to control immigration from the rest of Europe.

Pro-Europeans argue that the EU free trade agreements and the ability to work and travel freely benefit the UK.

They point out the numerous EU laws which protect human rights, worker's rights, the environment and discourage tax evasion.

They also argue that the European Union has been a major source of peace in Europe after two World Wars.

The Conservative government is currently seeking to reform Britain's membership of the EU before the planned referendum in 2017, however the exact nature of these reforms is yet to be confirmed.

Jonathan Arnott MEP told Premier's News Hour: "It would be much, much better if we could have a single coherent campaign, if we could get everybody round the table.

"We're spending over £55 million to be a part of this club, which is giving us one-size-fits-all laws for 28 different countries, and of course what's appropriate to be law in the UK may be slightly different to what's appropriate in Spain.

"We believe the best people to govern Great Britain are the British people themselves, so we want power to come back to the UK, to control our own borders, to make our own laws, and to have our own trade agreements with countries across the world.

Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speaking to Jonathan Arnott on the News Hour here:

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