It is a question that is not just dividing the country but families, cities, political parties and even the government itself: whether to stay or go.

Many have complained the Brexit debate so far has been based around fear on both sides - with real facts thin on the ground.

In truth, of course, nobody knows for sure what would happen if we exit, leaving both sides free to make claims that can be difficult to disprove.

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With one Survation poll last week showing 18pc of people nationally still undecided, foremost in voters’ minds are likely to be ramifications for the economy, democracy, security and immigration.

But for people in Manchester , what are the specific arguments for or against Brexit? A Mexit, if you will?

Here Graham Brady, chair of the Tory party’s influential backbench 1922 committee and MP for Altrincham and Sale West, puts forward the case for Manchester leaving - while Tim Farron, leader of the Lib Dems, tells us why the city would be better off in Europe.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron

Tim Farron: ‘Manchester wins in Europe’

When the world watches to see the result of the EU referendum be announced in Manchester, Roger Daltrey hopes you will have voted to leave. And he has his reasons. In the 60s he led the youthful mod revolution.

Now he’s 72, a slip of a lad. But Roger, we’re not talking about your generation. We’re not talking about mine. The referendum is about generations to come.

And that is why I urge people in Manchester to think about the next generation when casting their vote in the referendum.

As Boris Johnson and David Cameron engage in a Blue v Blue punch up, it can seem distant to peoples’ lives, particularly for those of us in the north. But there are 350,000 jobs in the North West, one in ten linked to trade with the EU.

I don’t claim all those would vanish if we left. But the North West exported a monster £13.5 billion worth of goods to the EU in 2014, 52 per cent of total goods exported. Germany, Netherlands and France were the region’s top three export destinations

Lord Lawson, former Conservative chancellor, blithely admits that if we leave, British exporters might have to pay 4% duty on everything we sell to European neighbours. Already investment is plummeting due to uncertainty over whether Britain will retain access to the world’s most lucrative market. Even a small increase in duty would hit jobs in the North West. As we emerge from one of the most punishing recessions in memory, I want to protect them.

For companies such as Scorpion Automotive Ltd in Chorley, exports to EU markets represent 20 per cent of sales.

It is a brilliant example of a NW firm flourishing in Europe. But what would happen to great local companies if we spend two years with our begging bowl asking Europe to give us a trade deal?

Kellogg's factory in Trafford Park

Uncertainty over British membership is one of the biggest risks to Manchester’s global competitiveness. This was the message delivered by the UK boss of Kellogg’s, which employs 700 in Trafford.

Johnathan Myers said: “Like many companies, the success of our business is linked to Europe.” This, he argued, was based on following one set of food regulations and being part of the single market.

Manchester City Council has been leading UK councils in declaring that “there are very strong reasons to believe that withdrawal would be damaging to the City’s economy.”

The council warns that post-Brexit 'a series of tariffs and barriers to trade would be likely to return which would serve to reduce levels of trade relative to the current position'.

The North West benefits hugely from EU funding for vital infrastructure projects, support for rural communities and creating opportunities for young unemployed people. The EU has funded the expansion of John Lennon Airport and the regeneration of the centre of Manchester.

The list of EU money for the region is almost endless: £18.7m for the Second City Crossing and Manchester Victoria Interchange upgrades; £3.7m for Manchester’s Royal Eye Hospital; £7m for Manchester City Council’s Sharp Project to increase digital entrepreneurship; £3.8m for the National Football Museum; £7m for thousands of new homes in Manchester’s Northern Gateway; and £7.6m for Manchester start-up companies. And there are loads of other examples.

£18.7m of EU money was used for the Second City Crossing and Manchester Victoria Interchange upgrades

But there are more than economic arguments for membership. Dozens of sensitive sites receive EU protection and beach standards have been transformed. Countless species have also been protected.

Security is another key benefit to the NW. The European Arrest Warrant – which means working with other European police forces – has been used to remove 452 criminals from the region and bring 111 criminals to face justice here since 2010.

But there is, I think, an even bigger question: what kind of country do you want to live in, and leave to your children?

Do you see Britain as standing apart, with “Europe” essentially being something that is done to us? Or do you see Britain as outward-looking, working with neighbours, punching above its weight and building a prosperous, secure world?

Do you think we can only protect ourselves from distant threats by standing alone? Or will we be safer working with friendly countries, who share the same threats and same values?

I’m an optimist: Liberal Democrats are optimists. Earlier this month, as the biggest gainers in the local elections, my party’s optimism was vindicated.

We want to look forward, not back. We are in the future business.

Do you see Britain as a country that should resist any changes to meet twenty-first century challenges? Or as an adaptable country that can thrive, innovate and lead in an open, global economy?

Manchester wins in Europe. With the greatest respect to Roger, I’m talking about the next generation – we owe it to them to vote “In”.

Graham Brady
Graham Brady

Graham Brady: ‘Manchester can stand on its own two feet’

In the past few weeks, we have been threatened with everything from terror attacks to flooding if we vote to leave the European Union.

The Remain camp, backed by sections of the political and business establishment, have deployed outrageous scare tactics in their bid to force us to continue kow-towing to the Brussels elite.

If you look into the detail of what the Remain camp are claiming, you will surely come to the conclusion that it cannot feasibly be true.

But our EU bosses and those who back them are hoping the people won’t scrutinise their scaremongering too closely. They are desperate to keep the EU gravy train running.

They hope people will simply hear the warnings about jobs, security and even flood defences, and conclude that they dare not disturb the European project, no matter how fed up they are with the race to a European superstate.

But I firmly believe that, ultimately, we will not be fooled by figures plucked out of the air to frighten us before we cast the most important vote of our lifetime.

I believe we will all look at the detail before we even think about giving the EU a fresh mandate to trample all over us and take away our sovereignty.

Detail such as a recent report by council chiefs, which listed the main reasons for staying with the EU project as skilled labour, EU regeneration funding and foreign investment.

Let’s look at these claims. The Remain camp put about this myth that leaving would hit foreign investment – which they say created 3,500 jobs in Greater Manchester in 2013 - and also exports, which would be likely to be hit by new tariffs, they say.

But the idea that the EU creates jobs is a scam. The EU is not a job creation scheme, it’s a job transfer scheme. EU migration soaked up a million of the 2.5 million jobs the UK created in the last five years.

If we leave, we will still go on trading with the EU for the simple reason that they sell more to us than we sell to them. They are not going to erect tariffs and trade barriers which will cripple other European economies. The German car industry sells £13bn worth of cars in Britain each year.

But above all, we need to stand tall and remember that Manchester is a city that was built on global free trade. We can be a great global trading city again. For that to happen, we need to concentrate on the increasing trade we do with countries outside Europe, with exciting new markets in the rest of the world.

Remain point to more than 9,000 new EU workers registered in Manchester last year, most of them Italian or Spanish. It concludes that is beneficial to the city because “many EU migrants offer job-specific or language skills which are highly sought after by employers.”

What a cheek! They are basically saying we cannot possibly manage to learn Italian or Spanish, or do the specific skilled jobs which are needed. To paraphrase a US President: Yes, we can! How about we give ourselves a chance? And in any case, if we leave, we can still take any EU migrants we require with the skills that only they can provide.

Ah, but wait, the Remain camp say, Brexit would see Greater Manchester lose out on EU funding for major regeneration projects. EU money helped pay for Manchester’s new city centre tram link and the Sharp Project in Newton Heath.

But when you look into this, it turns out they are giving us our money back! Every time we see a sign saying ‘EU Investing In Your Future’ what we are really looking at is a small refund: the Brussels elite deigning to give us a titbit of our own cash!

For every pound they spend, they’re holding onto several more pounds of our money in the taxes they’ve taken from us.

And there’s no point complaining. We don’t elect the EU technocrats who are imposing these taxes and myriad regulations on us. We have no influence over them.

The Prime Minister’s own former policy guru Steve Hilton has said that during his time in Number 10 almost two thirds of the laws going through Whitehall originated in Brussels.

The fact is, every day our lives are governed by hundreds upon hundreds of petty rules that come from the EU, regulating everything from the sheets on our bed to how we paint our garden fence. Freed from such nonsense, the sky is the limit for what we can achieve unfettered by red tape and interference.

One of the great concerns of voters is the current level of immigration. Figures last week from the Office of National Statistics estimated that 270,000 EU citizens migrated to the UK last year – the highest level on record.

But when voters voice fears about this, they are condemned by the Remain camp for being ‘horrible racists’.

The influx of unskilled workers allows big businesses to push down wages, and hugely increases pressure on public services. It piles more and more demand on our school places, on our hospitals. And the problems can only get worse.

If Turkey joins the EU, we will have a border with territory controlled by Islamic State.

The only thing you can do is say enough is enough. It’s time for us to take back control of how we spend our money, of how we organise our trade deals, of how we control our borders.

It’s time to say enough of the scare stories. The Remain camp even claim leaving the EU will compromise flood defences, because we will ‘lose our ability to influence and persuade at a macro-level.’

The idea that Britain needs to go cap in hand to Brussels to sort out its flood defences is ludicrous when we have an Environment Agency charged with that very task.

The truth is, no matter what they try to scare us with, it is time to tell those who want to prop up the EU racket that we are not going to take it any longer.

Manchester, like the rest of Britain, can stand on its own two feet. Outside the EU, as we did before, we can and will prosper.