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[nichola]

Peter, you have deliberately misrepresented what I have said.

It is the leave campigners that have raised the issue of Turkey's imminent membership of the EU which could not be further from the truth. There is a leave poster doing the rounds implying wrongly that 70 million Muslim Turks are about to descend on the UK if the UK remains in Europe. The leave campaign has been consistant from the outset in playing on people's fears of immigration and yet if the UK was to leave the EU the streets would not suddenly be cleansed of all immigrants, the jobs they are doing and the houses they occupy would not suddenly be available. There will be no 'getting our country back'.

You said that there are already large communities of Turkish people already living abroad including in the UK. 

As Turkey is not part of the EU they have been able to do this through other already existing means that have nothing to do with the EU. My point being that if Turks want to move to the UK there are already ways they can do this. In or out won't make any difference not least because the visa issues being discussed in Europe with Turkey are not about freedom of movement to live and work, just visa free travel for booking holidays in Europe,  and this excludes the UK.

I made the point about the UN and NATO merely to highlight the point that if the UK wants to take an isolationist stance then perhaps they should reconsider their membership of those organisations too. The UN in particular and the UN Conventions and Treaties they have signed are in fact what has enabled many Turks to migrate to the UK!

[nichola]

This is a lie from the leave campaign

[AOK]

And here's one from the Remain campaign leaflet
'' “being in the EU ensures we are controlling immigration and securing our borders”
 

[Stuart T]

Re: the last two posts....

I'll have to go with whichever frightens me the least.......I've heard little about what I have to gain by staying in or leaving - only what I have to lose.

Surely we voted into power people of far greater ability than (certainly me) to make these decisions on the nation's behalf.

There's not an informed CBF member whose posted views I can reasonably argue with. On both sides!

My instincts are to go out but.......oh, gosh - I'm living an episode of "Yes Minister".

[nichola]

Due to an overwhelming number of people leaving registering to vote until the last minute causing the offocial web site to crash the deadline has been extended until 11. 59pm on Thursday.

But do watch out for fake web sites like this one the Leave campaign posted...

http://www.thecanary.co/2016/06/07/vote-leave-caught-playing-dirty-trick-people-registering-vote-images/#mobile-menu

[nichola]

Just out of interest if you're already on the electoral roll was there any need to register specifically to vote in the referendum?

[sadler]

No, Nichola, if you are on the electoral role you are registered. Being on the role is the process which registers you.    

[AOK]

George Osbourne has just said in an interview with Andrew Neil that the governments promises /targets on immigration are now 'Ambitions' :

[kevin3]

   Yes, and Cameron and his cronies have a distinct lack of ambition.

[nichola]

Thanks for clarifying that Sadler.

I know a lot of people, more than one million, were unknowingly to them,  recently removed from the electoral register so I'm guessing many of them will possibly have realised this which would explain the last minute dash to register now.