[St Charles Owl]

So lets see these 'different reasons'. For most leave voters it was EU immigration that was the issue and the stats back that up. The elderly and people with low education tended to support it most. People were clearly scared that foreigners would take the jobs that they don't tend to want anyway.

I visited poland last year and was surprised at the standard of living,and their wages have increased 30% in the last few years whilst ours have fallen by what 13% ? And how has this been achieved ? Its due to the EU working to standardise living standards in its member states, the numbers of EU immigrants were going to fall naturally. The real issue is non-EU immigration which is about to rise again steadily, especially after we do these much vaunted new trade deals. With our ageing population and demographic its the only way. And then what happens ?

I agree that immigration was the hot topic behind a lot of people's vote, I also agree that that is a red herring because we control that anyway due to the way we operate, so coming out of the EU won't change that unless the government decides to change it. People have always been scared about Johnny Foreigner coming into our country and taking our jobs, you see that in Germany now, previous French governments have often talked about it and the US is completely divided on the whole issue and has been for many years. Those fears will not go away and until someone can come up with a coherent argument that disproves this whole notion it will continue to be an issue.

You paragraph about Poland though for me is exactly one of the reasons why some people want out of the EU!! The EU want to standardize living standards across member states you say, that is a laudable objective and something that makes perfect sense. But to state Poland's wages have gone up 30% while in the UK they have dropped 13% is exactly the sort of stats that prove the UK needs to get out of the EU!!! The EU over the last couple of decades has added a bunch of much poorer states to their membership such as Poland, Romania, Hungary, Greece etc, and if as you suggest the goal is to improve those countries then they have to find ways to do that but not at the expense or to the detriment of the original wealthier countries!! Imagine how the leave campaign would spin those numbers, three cheers for Poland, sorry Mr UK Citizen you wages are dropping but at least its benefiting our brothers in Poland!!!

I am sure and I agree that that isn't the whole story but unless someone refutes the figures that you state then you can see how those sort of stats would leave people cold at the idea of supporting the EU.