IF you haven’t been hiding under a rock for the past few months you will be aware that on Thursday June 23 British people will be asked to take part in a historic referendum.

We will be asked to make a choice as to whether we want our nation to continue to be a member of the European Union or not.

This is the first time the public have been offered such a chance to have a say on this issue since 1975.

Across the course of this week, The Bolton News is running a series of features which will aim to indicate how people across the borough are feeling ahead of the crucial vote and what key issues they are most concerned about.

Naturally, politicians from all sides will be putting forward their cases for an in or an out vote but we will also be hearing from business leaders, company bosses who trade with Europe and academics who are specialists in this area of politics.

But of course this referendum will be decided by the British people and last week we ran an online poll in a bid to ascertain which side of the debate our readers are currently coming down on.

The results are now in and we can reveal that of the nearly 1,500 people who took part in our poll — 76 per cent plan to mark a cross next to ‘out’ on June 23.

We must stress that this poll does not necessarily provide a true reflection of the residents of Bolton, but of those who took part, it would indicate the majority want us to cut ties with the European Union.

As well as asking you to vote on our website, we wanted to know why you are leaning towards one side of the argument and many of you kindly provided detailed responses on what is a complex issue.

Reacting on our facebook page, Adrian Silver said the money we spend on EU membership could be better used at home.

He said: “When Ted Heath and the Tories signed us into this union in the 70s, I bet he never knew that all these years later it would cost us around £165bn a year for the privilege.

“Our police, fire and NHS are being depleted by the day and still we give all this money and more away. “Let's start at home and use some of that money to increase our emergency services and make the NHS a better place to work. Let's equip our soldiers and give injured ones a proper pension.

“Last but not least, let’s give our pensioners a decent amount to live on.”

On our website, John Roberts said: “When we joined the Common Market they said that we would all be equal, but that never happened. How did the EU sneak in? I never saw a vote. It’s another back door job.

“It's mainly the rich and ‘born with a silver spoon’ people who want to protect their investments. “Since the EU, we have been bought out by the continent and told what we can and can't do. The people who fought and died for this country will be turning in their graves. I will a 100 per cent be voting to get out and I don't care who knows it.”

Fairness is important in this debate and it should be pointed out that 24 per cent of those voting in our poll are planning to vote in later this month.

This will include web commenter HungerHillBilly, who believes our economy could suffer if we vote to leave.

He said: “We are a country with very little manufacturing industry in comparison with other leading economies like Germany, US, Japan, China and India.

“We are highly reliant on the service-sector and particularly finance. We haven't much to sell that we produce ourselves.

“This is not a priority for those from Eton who are mainly concerned with reducing the deficit, but it stands to reason that as a low investment economy we are in no position to risk what is already a precarious position — we just haven't an industrial base.”

Fellow web user Justanaveragewoman agreed, but thinks Bolton will go the other way.

She said: “I think Bolton will probably vote overwhelmingly to leave. But the country will vote to remain. It all boils down to economics and jobs for me. I don't care who makes my laws or who my neighbour is. What matters is how much money my family and I have in our wallets. I’ll be voting to remain.”