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![\"Nicola-Sturgeon\"](\"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Nicola-Sturgeon.jpg\")
<\/a>\nEncouraging people to register to vote, in order to protect the benefits of the EU the three\u00a0leading politicians\u00a0met in the shadow of the statue to Emmeline Pankhurst at Westminster to issue a joint statement in support of EU membership.<\/p>\n
Scotland\u2019s First Minister and SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon said:<\/p>\n
\u201cMembership of the European Union has brought us social and economic rights that have made us more prosperous, made our society fairer and have created real opportunities for our young people and our economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EU delivers benefits that we take for granted every day. For many young people the right to work and to travel in other EU countries is part of their journey into adulthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor parents the rights to maternity and paternity leave now considered normal have been hard won with the help of the EU.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo leave the EU, would be to take the risk of leaving those hard won rights and opportunities in the hands of a Tory government that simply cannot be trusted, and to isolate the UK at a time when we should be working with other countries to tackle climate change, to address the refugee crisis or to deal with security issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe threats and the fearmongering characterising the debate over EU membership from both sides, must stop.\u00a0 It is time for an informed debate on the merits of EU membership and the importance for all those of us with progressive values of remaining members of the EU.\u201d \u201cEurope matters to all of us, everyday. Not only is our membership of the EU good for our economy but it also protects our hard won rights at work, guards our environment from cross-border pollution and gives us the right to live, study and retire across an entire continent.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course the EU isn\u2019t perfect \u2013 but we\u2019re only going to make it more democratic and accountable if we remain a member and fight to make it better.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bitter campaign so far \u2013 and the myth-fueled attacks orchestrated by Vote Leave \u2013 haven\u2019t done justice to the importance of this referendum. Over the course of the next month the Green Party will be working with others in making a positive case for Britain remaining in the EU.\u201d \u201cWales is stronger, safer and better off as part of the European Union. More than 20,000 jobs in Wales depend on access to the single market, and thousands of our students benefit from being able to study overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of our membership of the EU, we have laws on equality, the environment, on workers’ and consumer rights, on farming and food quality, laws to tackle climate change and much more. Cross-border cooperation makes us safer and it is important that these ties are protected.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaid Cymru wants Wales to have a stronger voice in a reformed European Union because we know that Wales is better off in, and over the coming weeks we will be presenting our case for a strong and prosperous Wales within a reformed and improved Europe.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STURGEON, LUCAS AND WOOD FOCUS ON BENEFITS ON EU MEMBERSHIP Scotland\u2019s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood and\u00a0Green MP Caroline Lucas have today called on those who share progressive values, believe in the protection of human and social rights and support equality to back membership of the EU in the referendum next month. Encouraging people to register to vote, in order to protect the benefits of the EU the three\u00a0leading politicians\u00a0met in the shadow of the statue to Emmeline Pankhurst at Westminster to issue a joint statement in support of EU membership. Scotland\u2019s First Minister and SNP Leader NicolaRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[56,118,216,212,217],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1376,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions\/1376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCaroline Lucas MP said: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
\nLeanne Wood AM Plaid Cymru leader said: \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n