A week from today Britain makes the biggest decision it has faced for generations.

Whether we leave or stay in Europe will define the future direction of our country, economy, security and our place on the world stage.

The Manchester Evening News believes Greater Manchester will be better off inside.

In the sound and fury of the scaremongering and speculation, it has been difficult to navigate the referendum debate.

Read more: EU referendum: How to vote and when we will know the results?

The hype has made it hard to believe anything said by politicians.

But we believe a cool, clear-eyed assessment of what we do know – and what is most likely – means that despite the many flaws, EU membership has been good to our region.

We do not seek to scare or to speculate.

However, we don’t believe leaving Europe would solve Greater Manchester’s many problems. It will not fix the cracks running through our society. It is not a silver bullet.

It is too easy to hold the EU responsible for the crises our own governments have failed to solve for decades. If we do that, we can only end up disappointed.

Read more: Six reasons why Greater Manchester is better off in Europe

Housing shortages, creaking NHS services, lack of well-paid jobs and an unequal society are not the fault of the EU. They have been overseen and allowed to develop by our own politicians, people we voted for.

On the other hand, European investment and trade has disproportionately helped our universities, our airport, our local economy, our culture. It has not only built physical things, it has kept our NHS going when we have so few doctors and nurses of our own.

Limited extra strain caused by immigration – and we do not deny immigration causes strain, but the figures are not on the scale many people believe – is not the reason we cannot afford to buy homes, or are queuing at the doctor’s surgery. That is due to a failure to care about the north, to build houses, to invest in the NHS.

"Agreement and unity, however hard-won, are precious"

Give us our money back, say the Brexiteers. Then we can pay for all that ourselves.

Yet paying into the EU gives us far more than just our own money back. It is our membership fee to a club, a club that means more money and jobs want to come here and helps keep us safe.

The fact our society is so unjust, so divided, is not due to being in Europe. It is a far deeper problem, one we need our own politicians to face with radical solutions.

In the meantime we are better off embracing the giant on our doorstep instead of lurking in its shadow.

We don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a more and more unpredictable world, one more in need of peace, calm and stability than at any time since the 1940s.

One where agreement and unity, however hard-won, are precious.

What has been true for Greater Manchester is true of Britain as a whole: although co-operation requires compromise, it is the only way to move forward.

United we stand, divided we fall.