EU referendum: Why should we stay in the EU?

Those concerns were reflected in the recent Express and Star readers' survey on the EU, writes Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden.

Many people feel that in recent years immigration has been too much too fast. This is not just an issue in the UK. Around the world, people are moving more than they ever have before and immigration has become a hot topic in many countries.

But there is a lot more at stake in the forthcoming EU referendum. This decision is about jobs, our economic strength, our collective security and our place in the world.

• MORE: Dudley MP Mike Wood on why we should leave the EU

• MORE: We want Brexit! Our big EU referendum survey results revealed

Representing a constituency with higher than average unemployment I care deeply about jobs. Half the exports we make in this country go to the EU under a single market system where we get a big say in the rules. And the UK can export more in the future by deepening and expanding the single market, provided we stay in the EU. Those exports mean jobs for local people, they mean salaries coming in, mortgages and rent paid and families supported.

The recent CBI survey showed leaving the EU could cost our economy £100 billion and result in the loss of almost a million jobs over the coming years, with the effect still being felt 15 years after the decision. And this is not an isolated survey.

'It’s not just a matter of jobs. It’s about rights at work too'

Similar forecasts have been made by the London School of Economics and Oxford Economics. If the outcome was anywhere near these forecasts the price would be paid by my constituents in terms of lost employment and lost income.

And it's not just a matter of jobs. It's about rights at work too. Important employment rights such as guaranteed paid leave, rights for part time workers and protection when companies are taken over are rooted in EU-wide agreements. When Leave campaigners attack EU red tape, very often it is these basic rights at work they are talking about.

When Leave campaigners say we can keep all the advantages we have from the EU without paying in or being members, they cannot point to a single existing example where this is the case.

But as well as the economics, there is a hugely important security dimension to EU membership, too. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, head of the US Army in Europe, did not mince his words recently when discussing what a British exit from the EU might mean.

"The UK is such an important member of the alliance," he said. "It is a leader in the alliance. It is a leader in Europe.

"Anything that undermines the effectiveness of the alliance has an impact on us, and so if the EU begins to become unravelled there can't help but be a knock-on effect for the alliance also."

His statement was a stark reminder the EU is not just a matter of interests, but it is a matter of values too.

'President Putin is the only leader who wants to see us leave'

Prior to its existence, Europe had a long and bloody record of settling its disputes through war. Monuments and military cemeteries all over the continent stand as testament to the terrible human cost of the two world wars of the 20th century. A huge part of the reason why the EU exists is to make it impossible for European countries ever to go to war with one another again.

Our allies want us to stay as members. The only world leader who would be delighted to see the UK leave would be President Putin.

With a more assertive Russia seizing territory in Ukraine, and with chaos and war in the Middle East, do we really think this is a moment for Britain to walk away from our allies and weaken what has been described as the most successful peace process in history?

The UK is a great country and we can survive whatever happens in the referendum. But this is a choice with big implications for our economy, jobs, rights at work and collective security. It is for these reasons that I believe the UK is stronger and safer remaining in the EU.