Membership of the EU is important for Aberdeen – and for communities across Scotland and the UK.

Aberdeen, Scotland and the UK are stronger, better off and safer as part of the European Union. Staying in is the right choice for the sake of jobs, trade, investment, prices and security. The EU is far from perfect but the gains of being in clearly outweigh the costs.

Working in partnership with our neighbours means entrenching the gains we have secured since the Second World War. Open markets, common health care, free movement of people, speedy extradition procedures for criminals, the abolition of mobile phone roaming charges, common working between universities and cementing peace on our continent are just some of the benefits of cooperation within the EU.

Jobs and trade

Remaining in Europe safeguards thousands of Scottish jobs. Scottish exports to the EU are worth billions of pounds every year.

Three million jobs across the whole of the UK jobs are linked to trade with Europe – the world’s largest single market.  That’s one in every ten jobs nationwide.

Prices

Families save an average of £450 a year because Scotland is in Europe. Everything from food to flights and phone calls is cheaper.

We still trade with the rest of the world but we get a better deal by negotiating as part of Europe.

Investing in the future

Here in Aberdeen EU funding has supported everything from Aberdeen’s hydrogen bus project, the improvement of Aberdeen Harbour to action on energy efficiency.

Across Scotland the EU has supported a huge range of projects including employment programmes, Scotland’s world-leading marine energy centre in Orkney and the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Edinburgh.

Scotland is set to receive around £6 billion in funding from the EU between 2014 and 2020. More than half of the foreign investment which comes to Scotland is from EU member states.

Security

The EU is helping keep Scotland safe too, with people accused of drug trafficking, murder and other serious crimes being removed from the country under the European Arrest Warrant. Criminals and terrorists operate across borders – our police and security services must do so as well. Leaving Europe would put that at risk.

The UK’s and Scotland’s place in the EU helps ensure that every family, every business, and every person in Scotland is part of a stronger, safer and more prosperous nation – and that is why I am voting “Remain” in the referendum.

 

 

 

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