EU debate takes place at Imperial
Referendum fever is yet to take hold
Last Thursday, The Big EU Debate took over Skempton building with members of both the leave and remain campaign battling it out over the key battlegrounds of the economy, immigration and democracy as a whole.
Speaking for the remain campaign were Mary Honeyball (Labour MEP for London) and Amelia Womack (Deputy Leader of The Green Party and ex-Imperial graduate) and for leave were Tom Hunt (a Conservative councillor) and Michael Gold (a Green Party MP candidate).
Skempton lecture theatre 164 was the political battleground for the clash of the titans with Deputy President (Welfare), Jennie Watson, chairing the whole affair in scenes of solid discussion unseen since the Civ Eng concrete lecture earlier that morning.
Similar to a political wedding, the audience almost split exactly into two halves, one pro-Brexit and one pro-remain, except there was more heckling than your average Eastenders wedding.
Opening statements from both sides touched on the key issues they felt were going to either be the cause of downturn of saving the UK, notably Amelia Womack comparing the EU to Andy Murray as “policy is deemed as British if it is doing well, and European if it isn't”. He just lost the French Open so take from that what you will.
As the debate continued, the classic cases were made on both sides, with Michael Gold proclaiming that “Operation Fear has come to Imperial College” but he may have just been referring to exam season.
Questions from the audience followed the debate, although many preferred just to shout them out as will during the proceedings – clearly these people haven’t watched enough Question Time.
After the rather heated exchanges for the best part of 90 minutes, a bar tab was placed behind the old Union bar in order to encourage students to engage in discussion with the panellists and their peers over drinks.
So, was the complex socio-politico-economic debate that has divided a country settled once and for all in an Imperial lecture theatre on a Thursday night? Not quite, but the bar tab in the union helped.
The full debate is available to watch on the Imperial College Union Facebook page.
