FORMER Mayor of Wellington Andrew Govier says he will vote to stay in the European Union when the referendum vote is held in June.

Mr Govier, a Wellington, Taunton Deane and Somerset County Councillor, and former Labour parliamentary candidate for Taunton, says the referendum is a distraction from far more important issues the country faces.

He said: “Instead of dealing with problems in the NHS, housing crisis and public service cuts, the prime minister has created a situation that means for the next few months the referendum will be all that is talked about.”

He said the referendum could have far-reaching effects on the people of Somerset and was concerned about the impact a vote to leave the EU could have on the local economy. “I fear that we would be excluded from a huge market and this would cost us hundreds of jobs locally,” he said.