TWENTY five of the region's 26 Labour MPs have signed an open letter to The Northern Echo calling for people to vote to remain in the EU in next week's referendum.
Ronnie Campbell, a long-time advocate of leaving the EU is the only Labour MP in the North-East not to put his name to it.
The letter reads:
Next Thursday the United Kingdom will make its decision on our future membership of the European Union. As members of the Northern Group of Labour MPs we’re united in our belief that the North East is better off as part of the European Union. As a region we get out more than we pay in to Europe. The North East therefore has the most to lose by a vote to leave on Thursday.
Our membership of the EU has given our region some protection from the worst excesses of right-wing Conservative governments. It has maintained investment in our region, whilst Tories in Westminster have cut our funding, time and time again. Those advocating that we leave the EU are not being straight with the people of this region. They are making promises they can’t deliver on and spending money that simply wouldn’t exist. A vote to leave, together with the economic shock that would follow, would mean cuts to spending in this region, harm to our NHS and will cost North East jobs.
A quick look at the track-records of those arguing for a Tory Brexit, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan-Smith, confirms they don’t have the best interests of our region at heart. Their policy agenda has seen our local communities hit whilst money has been moved to more affluent areas of the county. They’ve overseen the soaring use of food banks and punitive sanctions on some of the most vulnerable in society. They’ve made no secret of their aspiration to cut back the rights of working people. These aren’t politicians driven by the goal of a fairer and more just United Kingdom.
A vote to remain is the best route to the economic growth our region needs. Let’s not turn our backs on future inward investment, new jobs and the world’s largest single market.
Let’s put the North East first and vote to Remain next week.
Yours sincerely
Dave Anderson MP
Roberta Blackman-Woods MP
Tom Blenkinsop MP
Nick Brown MP
Alan Campbell MP
Jenny Chapman MP
Alex Cunningham MP
Julie Elliott MP
Pat Glass MP
Mary Glindon MP
Helen Goodman MP
Stephen Hepburn MP
Sharon Hodgson MP
Kevan Jones MP
Ian Lavery MP
Emma Lewell-Buck MP
Grahame Morris MP
Andy McDonald MP
Catherine McKinnell MP
Ian Mearns MP
Chi Onwurah MP
Bridget Phillipson MP
Anna Turley MP
Phil Wilson MP
Iain Wright MP
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