A HAMPSHIRE MP has finally declared which way she will be voting in this Thursday’s EU referendum after months of silence.

Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, has spoken out days before the nation goes to the polls and said she will be voting for the UK to remain a member of the EU.

Since the date when Prime Minister David Cameron announced a referendum on Europe, Ms Nokes has refused to say which way she would vote.

She felt that people would be able to “make up their minds for themselves” and stated that her vote would remain private.

But she has now declared how she will vote at the ballot box on Thursday.

She said: “The world has changed dramatically since the middle of the 20th century, it is a smaller place, in Europe it is a safer place, whilst in other parts of the world it is much less so.

“Within the single market our economic prosperity is more of a certainty, in leaving however, the only thing we know for certain is that it would be a step into the unknown.

“Trade outside the EU would come at an as yet unspecified cost, but if, as Leave campaigners suggest, we were to adopt a relationship like countries outside the EU, we would have to accept the idea of free movement of people and other rules without having a say in how they are formed.

“We lose our seat at the table and have to abide by the rules of others. To those campaigning to leave to increase our sovereignty I would contend that this scenario could leave the UK much worse off.

“So, for me, the decision is about looking forward and making a decision for the sake of – and on behalf of – our children and future generations.

“It is my genuine belief that the UK is better off as part of the European Union and on June 23 I will be voting to remain a member.”

Ms Nokes was one of 79 Conservative MPs who called for a referendum on the country’s continued membership of the EU.

But tonight she denounced both campaigns for either outcome as “negative” and she said she could “fully understand why constituents have found it so difficult to make a decision”.

She said “voters have been bombarded by grim economic forecasts from one campaign whilst simultaneously having fears stoked about immigrants from the other”.