Douglas Carswell's Blog

We need an In / Out EU referendum - whatever politicians now start to promise

“Eurosceptics may even get the referendum on [Britain’s EU] membership that they yearn for. They may also lose it” writes Dominic Raab in The Times today.

He is absolutely right. But that is not an argument against an In / Out vote.   

If we give everyone in Britain a say over our relationship with the EU, the majority might decide that we should stay in. According to a growing pile of empirical evidence, they might not. 

But if we only leave it to the 650 MPs in Westminster, we will only ever stay in. 

Worse, if we leave it to SW1 people, we will remain in the EU and never get a good deal for Britain in our dealings with Brussels.  The lesson to draw from the £ billions Britain has had to commit in bailing out a currency we chose not to join is that we must not simply trust the judgement of the politicians and Whitehall officials who got us into this mess.   

MPs may well come up with lots of excellent ideas about how to renegotiate the working time directive.  After 20 years of talking about subsidiarity, we may even one day get an actual example of the Eurosystem giving back control of one aspect of our lives.  But given how events are unfolding in the actually EU club that we are part of, in the hearts and minds of most voters I represent, I suspect things have gone beyond all that.  

I would have a little more confidence in the ability of the government to renegotiate our relations with the EU if ministers had not just promoted as our chief deal-maker to Brussels Sir Jon Cunliffe - the man who helped land us in the bailout deal to begin with.       

I prefer to trust the judgement of the people, rather than the SW1 tribe. If you do too, join the many tens of thousands who have signed the Peoples’ Pledge today.  More than one in ten MPs have so far, as well.

Sign up for an IN / OUT referendum by CLICKING HERE.

Join our rally on Saturday 22nd October by CLICKING HERE. 

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