The EU Referendum: What You Think

[caption id="attachment_135" align="alignleft" width="128"] Paul Heritage-Redpath, Product Manager[/caption] Today’s the day that we head to the polls and cast our votes in the Referendum that will determine the fate of our country. And while we wait with bated breath for tomorrow’s result; the culmination of months of campaigning by both Team Brexit and Team Bremain; it’s clear that no-one really knows which way the vote will go. We’ve been running our own polls to determine what our Partners think and the results mirror those of national polls which suggest it’s too close to call. When asked ‘How will you be voting in the Brexit Referendum?’ in synergi (our Partner Portal) with simple answer options of ‘Stay’ or ‘Leave’, a slight majority of 50.5% came out in favour of staying in the EU (103 votes) versus 49.5% or 101 votes for leaving. Yet, when asked the same question on our Opinion site, voting was tied at 25 votes apiece. The full results, in order of popularity are:

• Leave - our economy will benefit in the long run - 29%, 14 votes
• Stay - I'm not convinced there's reason enough to leave the EU - 21%, 10 votes
• Stay - it would be an economic disaster for us - 19%, 9 votes
• Leave - Britain needs to shake off interference from Brussels - 15%, 7 votes
• Leave - we need to protect our British-ness rather than be 'European' - 10%, 5 votes
• Stay - the social consequences of leaving the EU are too great - 6%, 3 votes

So what happens if the actual result is this close? Prime Minister David Cameron has been quoted as saying “I’m absolutely clear, a referendum is a referendum. It is a once in a generation, once in a lifetime opportunity and the result determines the outcome. If we vote to stay, we stay and that’s it. And if we vote to leave, we leave, and that’s it.”, so from the Government’s perspective a marginal win on either side will be enough to be deemed a definitive victory. Nigel Farage, on the other hand, won’t be quite so happy if Remain takes the lead by a margin. (NB legal machinations mean that it’ll take at least two years for us to separate from the EU so you’ll still wake up tomorrow an EU citizen even if the leave campaign is victorious...). Have your say! Is your vote represented in these results? What do you think the consequences of either staying or leaving the EU will be on the communications industry? We’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment below! Further information

• TheGuardian.com: EU referendum: five questions to answer before you vote
• TheRegister.co.uk: Who'll guard your personal data post-Brexit?
• CommsBusiness.co.uk: Tech Sector Believes Brexit Will Have Negative Impact
• TwoBirds.com: Brexit: Telecommunications Regulation in the UK implications

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