Editorial: Other voices in the EU debates

UK in the EU: MEPs debate proposed reforms ahead of referendum

With only a few days to go to the referendum on the EU, Lacuna is looking at some of the less frequently discussed issues.

In ‘Do Black Votes Matter?’ Leah Cowan shows how the BAME communities of the UK and their specific concerns and views have been largely ignored in the debates so far. And yet they make up an important constituency in the electorate, one which could swing the balance come 23rd June. Leah compels us to look more closely at the matter and calls for BAME voters to turn out to vote if their interests are to be served.

Barbara Nastoll is worried about a different aspect: she reports on the EU-wide ERASMUS programme that has seen many thousands of UK and European students benefit from study in other EU countries. “What will happen to these opportunities for future generations if we leave the EU?” she asks, fearful that the country and the whole of Europe will lose an inter-cultural experiment that has brought so many people together in education.

And finally, Lorenzo Genito revisits the harmful impact of the referendum and the debates surrounding it on the subject of migration and wonders: are migrants the victims of a Conservative Party at war with itself?

Banner photo by European Union 2016 – European Parliament.