The UK would be "less attractive" to Japanese investors if it votes to leave the European Union, Japan's prime minister has said.

Shinzo Abe said Japan's business sector saw the UK as a "gateway" to Europe.

The UK will go to the polls in a referendum on its EU membership on 23 June.

Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Vote Leave campaign, said he did not accept Mr Abe's "do as I say, not as we do attitude".

Mr Abe - who made his comments during a joint press conference in No 10 with Mr Cameron - said Japan would rather negotiate a trade deal with the EU as a block, rather than "individual states" in Europe.

He also said Tokyo would be paying "very close attention" to the outcome of the EU vote, adding that more than 1,000 Japanese firms had invested in the UK, creating 140,000 jobs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politic...endum-36215146

Indeed and for me those sort of 'concerns' should not be instantly dismissed.

One things for sure. If we vote to come out of the EU, the pound will drop overnight and could remain down for some time. I have a dollar account with my bank and I've transferred most of our savings into that account for the time being. I'd advise anyone with any sort of significant savings and who may want to get their hands on those savings in next few years, to start buying dollars now.

Overly precautious perhaps but then I always am when it comes to money.

Yes, could be a hard time of it for a while.
We are contemplating buying another property, hoping the financial avisor can help:shrug:

If its an unbiased broker you are looking for then you should take a look at The Money Advice Service https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.u...ancial-adviser
This site will give you vouched for advisor's in your area.

Also not to be dismissed instantly is handing over 50 plus million a day to the EU which is enough of a BIG red flag for me and many others to vote out. That saving alone means every eight days we can now build a brand new hospital for UK residents. Not too be sniffed at. Hmm do i want UK money to be spent abroad or in the UK? No brainer if you ask me. Does the UK need their hand holding like a 5yr old crossing the road with an adopted un elected parent. Nope.

I don't think anything relevant should be dismissed instantly and I don't dismiss all that the out side says.

While I disagree in part with you myself, that any savings as to our fee to be in the EU would actually end up benefiting much in reality, considering how our own govts of both parties waste funding,left right and centre when in govt.
I can also agree that 25million a day not 50million as 50million is the gross figure,is still a substantial figure and not to be dismissed as a relevant saving.

Therefore of course your points have merit too and I actually am still looking at all the out side says.
Not that my mind is likely to be changed.although stranger things have happened, I will and do however listen to all that's put forward that has a concrete basis to it, no matter which side presents it.

I have question for you....
Do you believe that the UK needs to have it's hand held by the EU and if so why do we need to have said hand held? Is the UK too weak to do it by themselves?

I don't want the UK's hand held, but to put things in to perspective, in or out of the EU, we still have to get along with our closest neighbours and do the majority of our trade with them. While I do think we over contribute to the EU, I don't think the difference in real money is as substantial as it is being painted to appear. I'm quite annoyed really, because neither side has been clear on it. Its not as black and white as its being painted from either side and that, in my opinion is a great disservice to the British people.

I'm very on the fence with my vote at the moment. I can see clear benefits in or out, but no-one has been able to move forward from blanket statements and as we all know, the devil is in the detail.

No I don't think it does.
I think that is a strong point from you and the out side, I do believe that over time the UK would do okay out of the EU.

Having said that however I think at this moment in time,in my view, it is preferable to be closer with the EU than drifting away.and therefore see any even temporary economic downturn as not desirable.

There's almost 2 months still to go, let's see what is put forward in that time up to the referendum.

A while back during the floods UK residents who's homes were flooded struggled to get money to make repairs while in EU countries money was being spent on flood barriers where no floods took place. Money spent to protect none UK residents but paid for by the UK who sent said money to the EU who then spent it on those countries but NOT on the UK for their actual real life flood problems. Are you ok with that?

It all comes down to this. Do you want the UK to be controlled by the EU or not.

Good point but this present Conservative government are not going to spend all that saved EU money on Britain's bare necessities are they?

There will always be examples like that. Think back to the food mountains years ago for the best ever example. The same thing happens every day across the UK where money isn't directed properly. That will happen in or out of the EU.

Again no I am not.

However I would like to have seen too better action taken by our own govts,both Labour in the floods they had in 2007,and also the Conservatives in the 2 recent bad flooding periods again.

Please note that if you vote to stay in the EU then the conservatives,Labour and whoever party etc will have little to no say at all. A vote to stay in is a vote to hand over even more power to unelected people to decide what the UK does from afar. If you are ok with that then great, but i am not ok with that.

Personally,I am not sure curbs on govts of any party are necessarily a bad thing.

Looking back over the political history of govts in the UK since 1992,in other words my lifetime.
I feel massive disappointment and let down by all of them.

Also if the EU has any power at all over the UK,our govts and Prime Ministers who signed all the treaties are the ones that gave then any of it.
However that cannot be the case now, since the coalition govt, made it impossible for any Prime Minister of any govt to just sign a treaty ad any new treaty has to be presented now to the UK electorate and approved or rejected by them.

[QUOTE=joeysteele;8638466]Personally,I am not sure curbs on govts of any party are necessarily a bad thing.

Looking back over the political history of govts in the UK since 1992,in other words my lifetime.
I feel massive disappointment and let down by all of them.

Voting to stay in would mean you are voting for something and someone you do not actually know. At least you know those in the UK in gov. Can you honestly name the top 3 EU leaders who make decisions for the UK? I can't but can you? ( without googling it) yet you are very keen to hand over power for these total strangers to run the UK? Hmm

A benefit of that is the stability it brings. It really doesn't matter much who is in those positions, as the terms of operation have already been set, after that ... just turn the wheels to keep it running

Thanks DR..ours comes out at the top of the list for this area.

The PM is Live now
Utter Bollocks
he is talking , again.

"Safer"

he keeps saying
Our safety does not change at all.

In this particular instance, I do think the PM has a point. If we are in the EU we remain a part of Europe. No country is allowed to war with another. That's simply not the case if we are not in the EU. Isolation by its nature brings conflict. Look at North Korea!

I agree, he may be overstating things a bit but it is a valid point he is trying to make.

I do want to remain but I don't agree with terms such as the ' united states of Europe'.

I'm voting out for other reasons but if it wasn't for the TTIP deal, I would definitely be voting to stay in. Since the EU was formed, there have been few conflicts and no wars within European Union. If you look at the early to mid 20th century compared to the late 20th century and early 21st century, Europe became far more peaceful after the union was formed.