The first salvo on the Referendum

As a tour de force Alex Salmon is a redoubtable performer when on his feet in the Houses of Parliament.
The House is debating the ground rules for the up and coming Referendum as to whether the United Kingdom should stay or remove itself from the European Union.
The initial proposition  from the Conservative Government has been on the house rules which  are being debated today.

1. To leave it for the Government to do what's necessary to achieve what it wants (generally the General Election is free from "Governmental" pressure in the form of public money if used to promote the hoped for outcome), whilst there were strong arguments against the governments immensely powerful position of being able to persuade the public.

2. The question of sixteen/seventeen year old 'not being' allowed to vote when, in the Scottish Referendum they were allowed to vote on independence.

3. The willingness to allow people (UK Citizens) who live outside the country in Europe to vote on the Referendum. It was interesting that the Government wish to withhold the the vote to these citizens whilst proposing that the citizens of Gibraltar are given the vote because it is felt that Gibraltar is very sensitive to the effects if we withdraw.

4. To hold the Referendum vote with other voting occasions, such as local elections, instead of separating the vote as an event all by itself, illustrating the importance of the decision which will emerge from a yes or no vote.
This is the beginning of a long series of debates on one of the most important questions which we as a country an be asked to make. One of the problems of a debate is that the people who are most to the fore, (the politician, the leader writers and program makers) in the debate are shameless in using "their own facts" to win an argument and it is going to make it very difficult for the "man in the street" to draw accurate conclusions.
Lies and falsehood are a poor handmaidens for any sort of union be it political or domestic.