Prosecco prices apparently could soar if we leave the EU.

Politics is not something I ever really blog about.  There are two reasons for that:

1. It creates too much debate and invites those who don't agree with you to comment daft things and instantly shut down your argument without even listening to your side. (I'm not saying that everyone should agree with me, that would be boring.  But at least be interested in entering into a debate not just taking the "I'm right, you're wrong" stance.)
2. It can be a bit boring. 

But the EU referendum is something I feel that people my age should really get involved in and look into.  I have tried, and am still struggling to find something the is easy to understand and sets out each argument in a readable, comprehensive manner.  I'm thinking like a table, with the issue - e.g. immigration or trade - then the for and against arguments.  I've scoured Google and found one site which has this.  ONE!

No wonder people my age represent the age bracket with the lowest voter turnout - information is so difficult to access and understand that none of us have a clue what's going on!

I'm not going to pretend I am fully informed of all the pros and cons to leaving or staying in the EU, because I honestly am not.  I have absolutely no idea how I will vote in the referendum, as I don't feel I comprehensively understand the arguments put forward by either side.

I feel that both are guilty of scaremongering and honestly don't know which route would be better.  In true style, I constantly change my mind.

What has alarmed me most about the consequences of leaving, though, is learning that the price of wine and everyone's favourite tipple prosecco will go through the roof if we leave the EU.

You didn't honestly think I was going to write a serious political piece, did you? :)

If we left the EU, the cost of an imported bottle of wine would instantly jump by a third.  Holy hell.

That means the cheap £7.50 bottle of prosecco will be a not-so-cheap £10!!  Okay, it doesn't sound bad if you're just buying one bottle.  But it will very quickly add up.

Given that some of the most popular alcoholic beverages consumed by Brits are imported from the EU, our favourite tipples might start breaking the bank.  At least that's one way to cut binge drinking?

In fact, all trade imports would be hit.  All our existing trade deals were made via the EU at the World Trade Organisation.   Living costs would soar.  So much of what we depend on in our everyday lives is imported from the EU.  My strawberries and raspberries that I have at work today, for example, have come from Spain.

Any car bought from overseas would also apparently become 10 per cent more expensive straight away.

And what about fuel duty?!  We pay enough for petrol and diesel anyway - I dread to think what that would soar to.

Then there's exports.  More than 50 per cent of British exports go to other EU countries.  What would that mean?

Like I said before, I'm no expert in this area.  Part of my degree was in politics but whenever Europe came up, I stopped listening.  I just didn't understand, it was so confusing!  I do wish I'd paid a bit more attention now, but even then I don't think it would help me decide what was best.

There's a lot of uncertainty around what will happen if we leave.  This is the first time we've ever been given the chance to have our say on whether we are members of the EU or not.

One thing is for sure, I think a lot more could be done to better inform everyone of the pros and cons - and not just focussing on immigration - ahead of the vote in June.  Everyone thinks that leaving the EU will automatically fix immigration, but it's really not as simple as that.  There is far more to this referendum than just immigration.

Some of the leave arguments are very strong.  For example, many of the laws that affect us are made overseas.  A lot of people don't realise that.

Then there's really annoying things like the 'tampon tax'.  What a lot of people don't realise is that Britain has no control over the VAT rates applied to goods.  The power lies within the EU.  Even if we wanted to change it, we'd have no chance.

When you realise that some of the most important decisions about our country are made by politicians from other nations, who we have never voted in or out and have no say on who represents us, it is quite irritating.

I'm still on the fence (despite the news about my beloved prosecco) and probably won't know which way I'm going to vote until I step into the booth on June 23.

For now, I'll just leave this here.

Like I said, I am not fully informed about either side of the argument.  So if any of my points are slightly inaccurate, blame the people who are supposed to be convincing us to vote one way or the other for not giving us all the information we need to make an informed, educated decision :)