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Hull people speak up to Remain in the EU

Diana Johnson MP

21/06/16, 00:00

The statement below appeared in today's Hull Daily Mail - see http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/why-104-of-us-will-vote-remain-in-eu-referendum/story-29430058-detail/story.html. Since publication a number of other names have also signed it.

Dear Sir,

We come from many different walks of life, across Hull and East Yorkshire, and although we disagree on many things, we do agree that remaining in the EU is best for our area.

Whether it is providing funding for cutting-edge research at Hull University or farming subsidies for East Yorkshire farmers, the EU directly benefits our region in all manner of different ways.

Our businesses large and small trade with businesses in the EU every day. Last year we sold a record number of Cottingham-made caravans to Holland and Germany. We have a German company with strong British heritage,

Siemens, investing £310m to build a factory in Hull to make wind turbines for the world's largest wind farm, being built by a Danish company off the coast of Hornsea.

As we work to make Hull a centre of culture, the EU is investing directly in our sporting and cultural projects, such as the rebuilding of Craven Park stadium. This is just part of a package of grants provided by the EU to our area which means locally, we receive more from the EU than we pay in.

We are more secure because EU cooperation allows port staff at Hull to run joint operations with Rotterdam and Zeebrugge to stop smuggling, human trafficking and illegal immigration.

Our local hospitals have often struggled to recruit staff which is why today our NHS has the benefit of doctors and nurses from across Europe providing life-saving care.

Hull workers benefit from being in the EU through paid holiday, maternity leave and equal pay for men and women.

When we go on holiday to Europe being in the EU means we get medical care without incurring huge bills, it means our flights and mobile phone calls are cheaper. The EU has given thousands of local people the chance to work or study abroad, just one of the ways in which the EU ensures better prospects for local young people.

The vote this week is about the future of our area for generations to come. We believe our region will be stronger, safer and better off inside the EU than on our own. That is why we will be voting Remain on Thursday.

1. Diana Johnson MP, Labour, Hull North

2. Graham Stuart MP, Conservative, Beverley & Holderness

3. Rt. Revd Alison White, Bishop of Hull

4. Finnbar Dowling, Project Director, Siemens Wind Power Hull

5. Neil Hudgell, Chairman, Hull Kingston Rovers & Managing Director of Hudgell's Solicitors

6. Adam Pearson, Chairman, Hull FC

7. Lucy Beaumont, comedian & writer

8. Baroness Virginia Bottomley, Chancellor, University of Hull

9. Lord Haskins, former Chairman, Northern Foods

10. Bill Waddington, Director, Williamsons Solicitors

11. Paul Sewell, Founder, Sewell Group

12. Cllr Stephen Brady, Leader, Hull City Council

13. Carolyn Johnson, Chief Executive, Language Is Everything

14. Keith Hunter, Humberside Police & Crime Commissioner

15. Kath Lavery, Chairman, Humberside Business Week

16. Lord John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister

17. Margaret Pinder, solicitor & former Beverley Mayor

18. Alan Johnson MP, Labour, Hull West & Hessle

19. Robert Crampton, columnist, The Times

20. Maureen Lennon, Artistic Director, Bellow Theatre

21. Karl Turner MP, Labour, Hull East

22. Ben Byass, Grange Farm, Bishop Burton

23. Prof. Mary O'Neill, Head of Physics & AstroPhysics, University of Hull

24. Cllr Colin Inglis, Chair, Hull Health & Well-Being Board

25. Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Emeritus Professor, University of Hull

26. Mark Hall, General Manager, The Welly, Fruit, Polar Bear, HullBoxOffice

27. Prof. Calie Pistorius, Vice-Chancellor, University of Hull

28. Dr Jay Trivedy, Principal, Wyke Sixth Form College

29. Jayne Mercer, Vice-chair, Hull City of Sanctuary

30. Prof. Kathleen Lennon, Philosophy, University of Hull

31. JJ Tatten, Manager, The Warren Youth Project

32. Prof. Ekkehard Kopp. Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Hull

33. Tina Trowhill, Chairperson of Action for Ashes Hull support group

34. David Gemmell OBE, Hon. Alderman

35. Mark Luscombe, teacher

36. John Cafferty, Regional Secretary, UNISON Yorkshire and the Humber

37. Ray Gray, UNISON Hull NHS Branch

38. Kate Etherington, psychiatric nurse & therapist

39. Cllr Phyllis Pollard, Conservative, Beverley Rural Ward

40. Tim Durkin, Solicitor & Former Chair, Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce

41. John Los, local businessman, Woodmansey

42. Sylvia Usher, teacher & Hull Education Centre Trustee

43. Cllr Steve Wilson, Labour, Newland Ward

44. Humphrey Forrest, employment lawyer and founder, Humberside Law Centre

45. Cllr Mike Bryan, Conservative, South West Holderness Ward

46. Prof. Trevor Sheldon, Dean of the Hull York Medical School

47. Mike Whiting, CWU Branch Secretary

48. Dr Lee Karen Stow, photographer & businesswoman

49. Michael Chilton, artist and lecturer

50. Cllr Helene O'Mullane, Labour, Bransholme West Ward

51. David J. Keel, Co-Founder and Director of Trident, Chair of Hull C4DI

52. Martin Deane, Chair, Hull and East Riding Green Party

53. Dave Oglesby, GMB Organiser Hull, Midlands and East Coast

54. Michelle Jowett on behalf of Hull and East Riding Rape Crisis Centre

55. Neil Daw, BAE Systems Brough, Staff Union Convenor & UNITE Branch Chairman

56. Mal Williamson, social entrepreneur

57. John Scotney, further education teacher

58. Sally Acton, education manager

59. Michael Somerton, retired lecturer, Hull University

60. Graham Towse, educator

61. Jo Cobley, youth and community worker

62. Adrian Joice, teacher, Branch Secretary NASUWT (The Teachers' Union)

63. Revd John Cowan, Vicar of St Cuthbert's, Hull

64. Emma Hardy, former teacher

65. Thomas Lumley, project design engineer

66. Paul & Frances Redmore, local business owners

67. Mike Nicklas, chartered surveyor

68. Cllr Terence Smith, Mayor of Goole

69. Rebecca Norman, QA compliance coordinator

70. Edwart Hart, social worker

71. Julia Marten, retired secondary school teacher

72. Jonathan Wainberg, registered learning disabilities nurse

73. Ray Kirtley, Global Learning Association, University of Hull

74. Shirley Scotney, retired teacher

75. Paul Gibson, UCATT Union

76. Rev David Perry, Superintendent Hull (Centre and West) Methodist Circuit

77. Colin Brown Chief Executive

78. Ellen Kirby, registered occupational therapist

79. Shane McMurray, college lecturer

80. Liz Charles, NHS Campaigner (aged 80!)

81. Dr Suzanne Clisby, School of Social Sciences, University of Hull

82. Mall Fields, Retired Trade Union Convenor, Humberside and Hull City Council

83. Richard Oliver, Regional Officer GMB Union

84. Juliet Lodge, former lecturer, University of Hull

85. Dean Kirk, registered care supervisor

86. Helen Barton, retired NHS worker

87. Helen Etherington, retired civil servant

88. David Weaver, senior researcher

89. Audrey Dunne, poet

90. Richard Corbett Yorkshire & Humber MEP, Labour, Hull University graduate

91. Anne Barnecutt, retired NHS worker

92. Josh Capstick, former Chair, Hull University Labour Club

93. James Richardson, student

94. Kate Jones, estuarine ecologist

95. Dominic Blythe, Hull University student

96. Kallum McIntyre, advice worker

97. Derek Jennings, former Chair Of Governors, Sydney Smith

98. Rosie Nicola, community activist

99. Cllr Haroldo Herrera-Richmond, Labour, Bootherry Ward

100. Gordon Vassell retired firefighter & FBU official

101. Kate Kavallares local entrepreneur & businesswoman

102. John O'Mullane, retired solicitor

103. Tracey Windle, campaigner & advice worker

104. George Aylett, student

105. Elliott Dean, UNISON Hull & East Yorkshire

106. Ruth Wilson, business development manager

107. Caroline Lumley, nurse & psychological therapist

108. Salman Anwar, President, Hull University Conservatives Futures

109. Alec Gill MBE, historian

110. Raja Hanna, student

111. Elisha Andrews, Chair, East Yorkshire Young Labour

112. Saffron Scaife, West Hull Young Labour

113. Patrick Wilkinson, Secretary Local Government Committee

114. Bobby Silby, UNISON Hull

115. Keir Mather, Haltemprice & Howden Young Labour

116. Josh Smith local resident and Hull University student

117. Anne Dannerolle, local community worker

118. Paul Schofield, tour guide