Down in Westminster, the EU referendum will be more-or-less the only show in town between now and June 23.

But for everyone else the reality of Europe – and what it actually does – can be hard to grasp.

And the conflicting facts, figures and fears crowding our airwaves right now don’t necessarily make it any easier to work out.

So, to quote Monty Python: What DID Brussels ever do for us?

Here are some things it has actually done for Manchester over the last decade.

Trams

(Image: Mark Waugh)

The city centre may be facing nightmare roadworks while new tramlines are being built, but ultimately it will end up with a much better Metrolink .

Victoria’s new tram stop, pictured, is just one part of the project to be helped by a £10.8m grant secured from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in 2014.

Ultimately that will contribute significantly to the new link across the city centre.

Deansgate-Castlefield station

Also paid for out of the grant mentioned above, the Deansgate stop is another station to have been given a boost by Brussels.

New lifts, ramps and a better bridge – as well as new platforms – are already being used by thousands of people each day ahead of the entire cross-city project being completed next year.

Sharp Project … and Fresh Meat

Newton Heath’s highly-successful creative hothouse was set up nearly a decade ago by Manchester council – helped significantly by a £7m EU grant.

Since then this re-purposed bank of shipping containers has helped hundreds of digital businesses off the ground with cheap start-up space and support.

Now estimated to be adding £200m a year to the local economy – including 1,000 jobs – it also provided the studio space for hit Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat .

Museums

(Image: Dominic Salter)

If you’ve ever been to see Stan the T-Rex, the mummies, the recently refurbished natural history gallery or any of the other exhibits at the Manchester Museum , then you’ve benefited from EU funding.

The ERDF has also provided regular grants to the People’s History Museum , as well as providing £2m for a revamp of the Museum of Science and Industry ’s main building.

Graphene ...

(Image: Aidan O'Rourke)

Manchester may have discovered graphene , but the EU is helping us turn that wonder-material into jobs.

The university’s pioneering National Graphene Institute – opened last year – will see the super-thin substance developed into actual products, keeping Britain, and Manchester in particular, at the forefront of its research.

And £23m of its £61m cost was paid for by the ERDF.

... and even more science

The EU has a £350m recyclable loan fund for the north west that is designed to get things built in cities.

That has helped fund a range of major developments in recent years, with this brand new centre at Manchester Science Park, known as the Hub, one of those in the offing.

The same developer, Bruntwood , has also benefited from the fund in its bid to redevelop the former BBC site and the former Royal Eye Hospital into scientific research hubs - part of plans to make the whole Oxford Road corridor a magnet for innovation and hi-tech jobs.

NOMA

This massive regeneration of the area between Victoria Station and Angel Meadows has also been helped along the way by £6.9m of EU money.

The Co-op ’s glistening headquarters at Angel Square is already built, but plans have recently been approved for a burgeoning neighbourhood of new flats, offices and public space, including this tower block earmarked for the corner of Rochdale Road.

Angel Meadows

As part of NOMA , Angel Meadows park itself has had a facelift using European money.

Some of the grant given to the Co-op for its surrounding regeneration project has been used to upgrade the entrance to the park, one of the city centre’s true hidden gems – and rich in Manchester history.

The XYZ building

Formerly known as the Cotton Building, this major new development forms the latest part of Manchester's expanding Spinningfields district.

It was granted planning permission last summer and major tech firm NCC has already agreed to base its headquarters there - while new cafés, an indoor garden, meeting spaces and even a wellbeing centre are all planned.

And the region's recyclable EU loan fund, which handed over £10m in 2014 to developer Allied London , was key in getting it off the ground.

Warm homes, cheaper heating bills

(Image: Google)

The ERDF also half-funded – to the tune of £5m – the insulation of hundreds of council homes across north and east Manchester , as well as in Tameside .

In total 708 1960s-built homes run by Northwards Housing and owned by Manchester council have been insulated as part of the programme, along with three blocks of flats owned by Eastlands.

Jodrell Bank

Not in Manchester, but probably Manchester University ’s proudest outpost.

In 2009 the university successfully netted a £1m ERDF grant to open its new discovery centre, covering around a third of the overall cost.

Opened two years later, the state-of-the-art, ‘hands-on’ centre ushers thousands of people in a year to explore the mysteries of the final frontier.

National Football Museum

(Image: Eddie Garvey)

Opened in 2012, the Urbis-based ode to the beautiful game has since become one of the most-visited tourist attractions in the country.

And around a quarter of the cost for the £12m project – which last year brought in more than 750,000 visitors – was borne by the ERDF.

Bridges

The EU has also helped towards a surprising amount of our infrastructure – including this bridge over the River Irwell , near to the former Mark Addy pub.

Lifted into place in 2012, the pedestrian link from Spinningfields to Salford benefited from around £1m in ERDF money, matching the cash put in by Salford council and developer Allied London to connect people with jobs and homes on either side of the city divide.

SportCity ...

(Image: Keith Trainor/uaimaging.co.uk)

These days east Manchester is well on its way to becoming the sporting Mecca envisaged by council bosses when they first dreamt up the City of Manchester Stadium – now the Etihad .

But much of the wider work around Eastlands has been funded by EU money.

The ERDF paid for more than £5m worth of remediation for the old industrial land on which new homes are springing up, as well as the footbridge to the Velopark tram stop.

… including the National Cycling Centre

East Manchester’s sporting boom managed not to stall entirely following the 2008 crash – and part of the reason for that was EU cash.

In 2011 the National Indoor BMX Centre opened near to the Etihad, the sister venue to the next-door Velodrome and part-funded by the EU.