One of the pupils at Nelson Thomlinson school is so passionate about the EU referendum, she has written a poem about it.

If that surprises you, Cumbria’s director for Vote Leave is 18 years old.

Far from being disengaged and uninterested in the EU referendum, young people are fully involved in this debate. And why wouldn’t they be? Their future is in the balance.

To get away from all the hysteria and scaremongering and actually have a focused, fierce but friendly debate about the referendum, you should head to Nelson Thomlinson’s library at the school in Wigton.

Fresh out of a their General Studies A-Level exam, six students – three leavers, two remainers and one undecided – sat down with me to discuss this Thursday’s vote.

The referendum has been a hot topic around with the sixth-formers, even though not all of them are able to vote.

Megan McManus, 17, who wrote the poem, has missed out on voting because she’s a month-and-a-half too young. Not that that stops her getting involved with the debate.

“I was actually for remain initially,” says Megan, who normally supports left-wing parties but is now a Leave supporter.

“We’re putting so much in for getting so little out. A lot of the laws are very unfair. I’m pro-immigration but the EU sets lots of that for us.”

Megan thinks being out of the EU would enable the UK to make much fairer laws ruling immigration. At the moment the tests to get in are “ridiculous” and we could set up a better, fairer system ourselves.

Immigration has been a hot topic throughout the referendum, with Vote Leave arguing that the only way Britain can control immigration is outside of the EU. It brands the the current system as “immoral, expensive, and out of control” as the UK has few powers to stop people it doesn’t want coming in and blames immigration for putting schools and hospitals under pressure.


Megan McManusVote Leave poem by Megan McManus

Remain or leave, what shall it be?
The question hangs in British air.
Divisions plainly we can see
among the people living there.
Yet I don’t see why we should stay
when every day we make a loss:
our voices, needs! Are kept at bay
in Brussels – we are tempest tossed.
An island once of strength and might
is thus reduced to silent cries
amongst those who will pay no heed,
and meanwhile feed us packs of lies.
Economy would not decline –
rather it would grow and thrive,
safety too, would be ensured
with our own laws we would survive.
As June the twenty third approaches
We can’t be idle, must rise up –
vote leave for a brighter future:
from triumph’s table we would sup.
A better state we would become,
With justice reigning all around.
Peace within our hearts and minds
as independence jewels our crown.

But the Remain camp says leaving the European Union would make it harder to tackle illegal immigration as the border controls will move from Calais to Dover. It also argues that leaving is unlikely to change legal immigration either, as if the UK wants access to the single market and a good trade deal, it will probably end up in a position like Norway or Switzerland.

Arguably both of these countries have less control over their borders than the UK. Norway, which is inside the European Economic Area and Schengen, has exactly the same free movement rules as the UK but no votes on these rules. Switzerland is more complicated but is subject to almost the same free movement rules as the UK.

Both sides seem to have the overall goal of reducing immigration from the EU but both think their side has the better solution. This often seems to be the case with the EU referendum, with Leave saying going would solve the problem but Remain arguing we’re better off as we are.

All the students say it has been hard to sieve the facts from the mountain of debates, interviews, articles and campaign leaflets put out by both sides.

Alex Wasilewska, 18, also a leaver, doesn’t believe anything he’s heard from the Remain campaign.

He says: “Any of the facts that have been stated by the Leave campaign, a good portion have been backed up by sources.”

However, Annie Bowe, 18, who is voting to stay, thinks there are far more predictions around than actual facts. “You never really know what’s true,” she says. “I believe more from the internet than politicians.”

Annie also isn’t impressed by the way politicians are suddenly trying to get young people interested in voting. No-one posted leaflets through her door when the recent local Police and Crime Commissioner election was happening, which she says is obviously not on the same level but still the principle remains.

“They can’t pick and choose when they want people to vote,” she says.

Astrud Turner, 18, believes the UK can’t pick and choose when it wants to be in the EU just because it doesn’t get its way all the time. It’s a collective, a group of 28 countries working together, and sometimes we have to make compromises but the majority of the time, the UK does get its own way.

“You can’t simply leave the EU and become a perfect country. It just doesn’t work like that,” she says.

Whether the economy will flourish or decline post-Brexit is entirely speculation, she says.

Oliver Coulson, 18, Cumbria’s director for Vote Leave, is convinced we will flourish out of the “fundamentally undemocratic” EU.

He contacted the campaign in October and works with a group of 40 volunteers.

Oliver says: “I and a group of local people wanted to make sure our voice was heard.”

He admitted he would be devastated if the UK stayed in. “I’m trying not to think about it,” he says.

Although these six students are clearly heavily engaged in the EU Referendum, not all of their classmates are. Some, much to the annoyance of Megan, who can’t vote, haven’t even registered to vote. She says: “It’s a minority but some people say ‘I’m not bothering’ because I don’t think they understand the magnitude of it.”

Oliver agrees: “People just don’t understand what the EU is and what it does.” True, that. These guys seem to understand but how many people really know what the European Commission does, how the Council of the European Union differs from the European Council and the role of the European Parliament?

Can people even name the north west’s eight MEPs? Or were you one of the 64 per cent of people who didn’t vote in the 2014 elections?

Oliver says: “When I have explained to people what it does, that can instantly make up their mind which way to vote.”

Annie says that some people started talking about Syrian refugees and she had to explain that Syria wasn’t a part of the EU.

“If you don’t know the EU or what it is, it’s hard to know what are we even part of or what we are going to leave.”

The six students debate from both sides about immigration, the economy, law and sovereignty with passion and are committed to their side, apart from Lauren. Oliver says the standard of debate is much better among friends and young people than between politicians. “We don’t have a message. We’re not being filmed,” he says, “We can have a much fairer debate.”

But at the end of it all they’re all friends again, laughing and joking with no lingering animosity or frustration. Will David Cameron, George Osborne, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson follow suit and all be pals again after June 23?

“You don’t want to argue with your friends,” says Annie. “Everyone is entitled to say what they think.”

We’ll just have to wait and see.