Young people benefit from the EU We need to tell them

Each one of us who was glued to a screen or radio for the Nick vs Nigel EU debates will have our own opinion of who lost and who won as facts, rhetorical points and the affection of the audience were fought over. But I'll tell you whose affection wasn't fought over - that of Britain's young people. And I, along with friends in and outside the party, was disappointed.

The lives of young people in this country - your children, your activists, you - will be put at yet another significant disadvantage if we end up losing our membership of the European Union. But with voting turnout amongst young people at a massive low and once again the needs of young people risking being stamped on. Because of this, it is our job as Liberal Democrats to give them a reason to go out on the 22nd May and vote - vote not just for a liberal Britain, but for a Britain firmly IN Europe.

So why should young people want us to stay in the EU? Because only the EU can guarantee us the same massive benefits that will help us get on in our lives, like education, employment and the environment. Leaving it means losing out.

So here are some concrete examples of why we need to stay IN;

• as EU citizens we have the right to study anywhere in the EU with grants offered to those studying abroad within the EU;
• EU social law also allows qualifications gained here to be recognised in other member states, eliminating the need to take further assessments;
• when we do finish education and/or training the EU's single market, the biggest in the world, gives us access to millions of jobs - not just in other parts of Europe, but in this country too.

If we were to pull out some 4.2 million jobs may be put at stake, and rising unemployment like this always hits young people the hardest.

As a break from all this work and learning we can go travelling and take advantage of how cheap it is to see what Europe has to offer! We can take advantage of reduced border checks, we don't have to shell out for expensive visas and we have access to free health care if we need it.

Then something that isn't much of a holiday - how about climate change? This is a problem now and will only continue to be one as time goes by, hitting our generation hard. The hugely damaging effects of climate change in the future (because what we see now is only a taster) will know no borders, which is why we need international co-operation to deal with it now.

These are just some of the ways young people stand to gain from our EU membership, and we as Liberal Democrats need to be selling this to them at every opportunity we get.

We, Britain's young people, already have enough barriers to getting on in our lives - lets do all we can to ensure being outside the EU doesn't become another one.

* Ab Brightman is the International Officer for Liberal Youth