Dear George Osborne, Chancellor of Exchequer,
My name is Jessie Musenge and today I am going to express some of my ideas on
some of the important issues facing our new conservative government.
First and foremost I think it is of upmost importance to highlight the UK’s up and
coming plans to have a referendum on whether or not to leave the European Union
before the end of 2017. This is due to the fact that the final decision could drastically
affect the UK’s future economy. Before challenging this matter I think it is important
to understand the foundations of the European Union. It was created at the end of
World War Two in 1945 to maintain peace between the European countries and
ultimately prevent the outbreak of another war. It would do this by encouraging
economic cooperation between the countries.
In our world today, one of the UK’s most major advantages of being a member the
European Union is trade. Being a member gives us access to free trade between
other Union members, ultimately making it easier and more affordable for our
British businesses to export our goods to the rest of Europe. From this, it is
important to acknowledge that being a part of the single market is one of the main
sources of our wealth. This single market gives us access to 500 million consumers
and 21 million small and medium-sized enterprises. As a result of the UK being a
member, our citizens benefit from lower prices, more innovation and faster
developments in technology, as well as higher standards of safety. UK businesses
currently benefit from its access to over 500 million consumers for its products. As
well as easier access to a wide range of suppliers and consumers, we also benefit
from greater commercial opportunities, which positively impact total profits.
Other significant advantages of the UK being a part of the European Union revolve
around all the job opportunities. The free movement of people within the European
Union means UK businesses can fill important skill shortages and more job
opportunities are opened up for UK workers that are willing to travel to for their
companies. As well as this, it makes it relatively easier for UK companies to recruit
and transfer workers from across European Union countries.
There are many that would argue that the overall benefits the UK makes from being
a member of the European Union largely outweigh the billions of pounds in
membership fees Britain would save if it left the EU. Our exit would mean an end to
a massive source of our income, which would in turn devastate our economy. I think
that the matter of the future referendum is a major issue due to the fact that if the
UK were to vote “Yes we should leave the EU”, our economy could be on the brink of
collapse. Above all of this one thing would be certain: if we do leave the European
Union, it would be almost impossible to get back in, which would be a detrimental
fate.
Another important issue facing the new government is the increasing number of
Syrian refugees. As the Syrian crisis exacerbates, the pressure on our government to
take in more refugees is increasing without question. This is one of the most crucial
matters our government will have to deal with as it ultimately means they will be
making decisions that will affect the safety and quality of living of others. Before
considering whether or not to take in more refugees, I think it is important for
people to understand whom the refugees are and why there are so many coming out
of Syria in the first place. The Syrian Civil War began in 2011 after 15 school children
were arrested and tortured for painting anti-government regime graffiti on the walls
of a school. This caused a blunt outrage within the community with a large number
of protests erupting and the government opening fire on demonstrators killing
several. Violence has since then escalated at an astonishing rate claiming the lives of
thousands.
One of the recent decisions made by our government was to extend the ‘Vulnerable
Persons Relocation Scheme’ and take in up to 20,000 refugees directly from Syria
over the next five years. The increasing number of Syrian refugees coming into the
country could very well have a positive impact on our economy. I think this is due to
the fact that they would provide a hard-working, motivated workforce, as they
would understand the value of a job and living a normal life just having come from a
brutal war. This would maximize the efficiency of the goods and services generated
by the UK. Additionally, they would help to fill skill shortages throughout the UK,
which would also help to increase employment rates.
Another benefit I think this decision would have is the fact that it would help to
balance out our aging population. The increasing number of elderly citizens has
meant billions of extra pounds have needed to be spent on their increasing care
needs, as well as their health and fitness. This is due to the fact that an ageing
population inevitably leads to an increase in degenerative diseases such as cancer,
heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and dementia (e.g. Alzheimer’s). At the moment,
there are just about enough economically active people to cater for our elderly’s
needs as well as the needs of our population as a whole. It is for this reason I believe
the refugees can benefit us, as they will be able to work and contribute to our local
and national economy.
As high as the benefits are from taking in the Syrian refugees, I think it is also
important however to take into account that we are a small island on the map. One
of the major issues would be being able to house them. Finding places for them to
stay where they can live comfortably is the most important issue.
Personally, I think the government made a good decision by choosing to take in
more Syrian refugees because after all, they are humans, just like me and you, only
they have been unfortunate enough to inevitably get caught in a war they have no
desire to be a part of. They are only looking for peace and safety, to get away from a
devastating civil war that could have easily taken their lives. I think that there should
be no question on whether we should take in more citizens. This is because of all
decisions in our lives we hesitate to make, choosing to save a human life from death
should not be one of them.
Finally, the last issue I want to highlight is one that I view is unfortunately
overlooked on the larger scale when in actuality it has the power to massively
promote the UK’s future: to encourage entrepreneurship. Generally in our society
today, in our homes and schools, it is highly common for us to encourage the youth
to aspire to getting a job, to choose professions that have high reputations and of
course, pay handsomely. Some of these professions include being a doctor, lawyer or
engineer, which are very well respected professions I will admit. In contrast to this,
not very many of us encourage our children to start their own businesses and for
some that do, they may not know how to assist their children and help them further
their plans. Ultimately, I believe this a tragedy due to the fact that there is such a
huge number of benefits more entrepreneurs would have on our economy.
The first and most important advantage of encouraging entrepreneurs is the fact
that they can create jobs. This is because entrepreneurs introduce new ideas and
eventually these ideas become projects. Once these projects are taken into action
they create jobs and positions for people to fulfil. This is what our country needs:
more jobs being created and more people fulfilling those jobs, which in turn would
contribute more to the economy growth. An impact of this would be that our
country would need to rely less on the resources of other countries.
In order to make this a reality, I think it is important for the school system to
encourage entrepreneurship from as early as year 7. Our government needs to
create more programmes for the youth to make them aware that the possibility of
starting their own business is always there. It really and truly is important to inspire
bravery in taking business risks because, in the end, they could be the source of the
UK’s prosperity.
These are all my views of the most important issues facing the new government.
Thank you for your time.
Yours faithfully,
Jessie Musenge