In the run up to the EU referendum on June 23, the Guardian is asking people for their views on whether the UK should leave or remain.

Here we speak to Leytonstone’s internationally-renowned artist Bob and Roberta Smith on why he thinks “we have only got each other”.

“I hope people vote to remain in the UK for all the frequently stated economic reasons, but also because I believe what unites human beings is huge and wonderful. And what divides us, borders, walls, suspicion and lack of empathy is small and mean.

“I have made a print which I will show in the Royal Academy summer exhibition. The print reads 'We have only got each other'. The print is inspired by a conversation with my 90-year-old mother who grew up in Margate in the 1930s. It wasn’t long before she had to leave after the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 and travel up to London with the returning soldiers. She remembers people waving to the trains from the end of their gardens holding banners saying 'welcome home'.

“We were talking about her experience of the second world and she expressed her frustration that Europe had involved the world in a global battle with itself. She concluded, 'why do we fight we have only got each other'. My view is that The EU has its inspiration in the post-war desire for peace. Like the 1948 UN charter on human rights, the Geneva conventions and Doctors Without Borders, they are agents in creating peace and stability. It benefits business and builds the economic base for prosperity but beyond that it is fundamentally about peace. We have only got each other, let's work together. Vote to remain in Europe.

“One of the terrifying aspects of world politics is the atomisation of global communities. We must hold Europe together, remember history and learn from it. My mother’s generation fought through World War Two so we could vote. I hope we vote with generosity for our fellow human beings and vote yes to Europe.

"Oh and for those worried about the transatlantic trade negotiations (TTIP), I would rather have a bunch of grumpy French farmers negotiate with America than Prime Minister Gove and Foreign Secretary Johnson, who will both probably assume power if there was a Brexit.”