Pensioners '˜dislike EU'

Mary Cook, of Orton Goldhay, is part of the National Pensioners Convention Health Working Party, and she believes being in the EU has brought in privatisation to the NHS.

She said: “I would say that we need to get out because of what we’ve already seen happening with the NHS when they brought in European Union competition law.”

Asked if other pensioners wanted the UK to leave the EU, she said: “I think so, from people I’ve talked to. We do not see any great benefits have come from the EU, in particular with the NHS.”

Charles Swift, who served 62 years as a city councillor, admits he will be very unpopular with a lot of people he knows because he is voting for the UK to stay in the EU.

He said: “I’ve never been a gambling man, and I think it’s too much of a gamble to try to come out.

“I think it will be a vote to come out, I have no doubt about that, and I think it will be a tragic decision.”

Mr Swift admitted he was “torn” over the matter but that he is in a minority of people that he knows.

He said: “Seven out of 10 people I speak to want to come out and it’s all to do with immigration. Nobody looks at any other side of the coin.”

And he also accused everybody of scaremongering, adding: “To witness the government members that sit around the Cabinet table cutting each other’s throats - what an example to the youngsters they’ve given.

“I do not think they are fit to govern.”