We asked York students how they plan to vote in the EU referendum

You’ve probably heard at least a teeny tiny bit about the upcoming referendum on June 23 to stay in or leave the European Union. You may not, however, have decided how to vote – or even if you can be bothered. We asked some people at York for their thoughts on Brexit and student involvement in national politics (or lack of…)

Victoria Andreea Druia, Psychology, second year

“England being part of the EU opened a lot of doors for me; as I’m sure it does for many other EU international students. I love being here and it’s very convenient to travel in and out of England during the holidays and it’s nice that parents can come and visit easily. I know that ‘some’ may not like us immigrants invading the homeland but I only come here to contribute in a good way and not to ‘steal jobs’ as they say.”

Alex Ingham, Social Policy & Politics, second year

“By not voting you are not having your say in how things are run within this country. I for one will seize upon this opportunity to have a say in the upcoming referendum because it can have a great deal of shaping the futures of not just me but many other students as well.”

Jonny Moynihan, Politics and International Relations, first year

“Yes, I am voting to remain because otherwise I would not be able to travel around Europe and the EU’s primary function was peace and it has sustained that. Also I just don’t like Nigel Farage and I would rather he didn’t win.”

James Gibson, History Masters student

“I will be voting out because of my ideological belief that limiting governmental interference (in this case supranational) leads to greater individual freedom and liberty. Economically it would allow Britain to enter into free trade agreements with the likes of China and Australia whilst maintaining its free trade deal with the EU in the same mould as Switzerland and Norway.”

Francesca Butler, History, second year

“I’ll be voting to stay in the EU because of the role it plays in peacekeeping, freedom to study and work abroad, and worker’s rights, amongst many other reasons. I believe we need to be cautious and critical, but the current imperfections don’t mean we should leave. Also Donald Trump supports Brexit, and that kind of says enough.”

Rory Mason, Economics, second year

(That burger doesn’t look cooked mate…)

“I’m voting in because I don’t see us negotiating any better deals once we leave; The UK Is far more dependant on the EU than it is us. I don’t think many people have looked into it enough – we need immigration to support our ageing population but everyone seems to take the bigoted view of them being “benefit sponges” and it’s really annoying that they may swing the vote despite being clueless on any legitimate reasons to stay or leave.”

Juliana Huggard, Applied Social Science (Crime and Criminal Justice), second year

“It’s vital that the students do vote because it will be us who will be most affected by this decision as the job market will be affected if the UK leaves as the EU heavily influences the job market and around 1 in 10 British jobs are related to the EU. As well as the EU contributing substantial amounts of funding to each university in the UK. If the UK leaves, the funding stops and then the government will probably have to do more cutting of government spending in certain policy areas. An underlying problem is the relationship between the UK and the EU will be very strained and with problems in the Middle East, we sort of want the EU to like us.”

Oliver Pollock, P.P.E, second year

“I guess my only really studenty insight would be that I haven’t met a single passionate ‘in’ campaigning student yet, but plenty of ‘out’s. And I think that extends to wider society – ‘out’ campaigners are far more passionate. I think humans are stupid in general I guess and that they will be far more swayed by passion and good rhetoric than actual analysis of facts. It’s more about how facts are presented than the facts themselves.”

Juliette Guinier, P.P.E., second year

“I have to be honest, I don’t entirely understand why the UK in particular would want to leave, they get the benefits of being in without the major issue of the euro and the problem of shared monetary policy that comes from it. And I feel like the decisions people make about their votes are very often based on false beliefs about the EU.”

Robert (Norb) Gordon, Politics and International Relations, second year

“I’m voting ‘in’ because I fear if we leave the EU my parents will be forced to move back to England and I didn’t go to Uni 1,333 miles away for them to end up back on my doorstep.”

Want to share your views on the referendum with The Tab? Email [email protected].