[St Charles Owl]

That is indeed not the whole story and I agree it provides 'ammunition' to opponents of the EU. However, reflect back to current and past shit British govts AGAIN who did not run the country properly and that covers policies that are detrimental to the working population and shit political ideologies. Like Ireland, Poland's govt had embraced it's EU membership with great enthusiasm and taken full advantage of the benefits and subsidies that have 'come their way'! And don't forget the financial crash of 2010 that had a huge effect in the way that the UK changed it's attitude on lotsa issues - no coincidence!

Yes I agree, those figures are not as plain as they seem but you can see how a statement about the EU's aims to improve conditions in their member states coupled with the reality of the stats "associated" with them will undoubtedly put the EU in a bad light when presented that way. There is nothing wrong with the facts, its just how they are spun and its all too easy to spin things like this about the EU because of the lack of transparency we tend to see from the EU and the undercurrent of distrust we have with them over the years we have been in.

During the referendum the EU should have done a lot more promotion of the good they do and the benefits that directly come to the UK through its membership and its status within it. There was a typical arrogance from them with their stance of not getting involved etc, when in reality they should have been shouting from the rooftops about the good things instead of standing on the sidelines and watching this go down. They stand to lose a lot by the UK leaving, just like the UK stands to lose by continuing down this path, but the Remain campaign did a dreadful job of getting the message across during the campaigning. The EU and the UK political parties - nearly all of whom supported Remain - must take some of the blame for the result that we saw - simply consistently blaming Boris, Farage and co is not enough, they let them guide the agenda and the message while never seizing control of the debate for the things that the EU brought to us.