The genuine, factual, principled reason why we should be voting to leave the EU

The fracking decision in North Yorkshire last night gives a good illustration of the folly of EU membership.
 
The simple fact is, if residents don't like the decision they can vote to replace the councillors who support fracking in their area.

By way of contrast, if we in this country don't like an EU directive - and there have been more than 70 instances where the UK has opposed EU legislative proposals, and every single time our opposition has been voted down and our objection has been over rule, meaning we have been left to implement EU laws or rules against our wishes - we have no way of changing it or removing the people who imposed it on us.

The UK has no special status in the EU that allows us to reject EU directives and rules that must be implemented by all member states. A vote to remain in the EU means the further erosion of democracy. It means further removal of power from ordinary people to influence who runs Britain and how.

There are democratic problems in the UK. Too much power resides in the centre and too little decision making takes place at local level. Frustration at this is completely understandable. But you cannot repair such problems in our flawed democratic process by voting to place even more power in the centre, of the EU, which will only reduce the amount of democratic control that can be exercised by ordinary people.

Only by leaving the EU can people in this country have an opportunity to take back power, hold politicians to account and ensure Britain is run in the way the people want. The reason for leaving the EU is not to reduce immigration, it's not about the economy, it's not about making up with the Commonwealth, it's not about the NHS, it's not about security, and it isn't even about trade.

The reason for leaving is democracy.

It's about deciding who runs Britain and whether or not voters up and down this country can have the power to determine the direction of this country. Should Britain be run by the British, or by an elite drawn from 27 other countries with their own conflicting interests and agendas? That is the issue the leave campaign should have been fought on. That is what we need to make the ongoing campaign about.

But for now, despite the rank incompetence and deliberately self inflicted damage of Vote Leave, please do what would can by voting to leave.

John Major - extremism, shared sovereignty and his war on democracy

Earlier in the week, the disastrous former Prime Minister, John Major, was interviewed on the BBC Today programme.

This is a man whose every pro-EU decision during his scandal-ridden and dishonest government resulted in huge cost for British voters, reduced political accountability and oversight and undermined our influence in the world.

He's still at it now. Among various soundbites, which he took with him to deploy on air, he offered up this comment in an effort to justify the pretence of 'shared sovereignty':

"If you want undiluted sovereignty in the modern age, when everybody is interconnected, then go to North Korea because that is where you will get it."

Major has no logical or rational argument in favour of making the British people surrender control of Britain to unelected and unaccountable people from 27 other countries, so he engaged in reductio-ad-absurdum. It’s the logical fallacy of extending someone’s argument to ridiculous proportions and then criticising the result. In this case he used it to make sovereignty sound like something extreme. But as I will show in a moment, it is nothing of the sort. But before that, consider this...

It is impossible to share sovereignty. A country either runs its own affairs, or it doesn't. If our sovereignty was shared, when faced with legislation we did not like, we could tell the European Commission that we simply won't implement it. But we can't. If we reject it the European Court of Justice hears a legal action against us then rules that we must follow European Law or suffer huge fines. So where is our shared part of the sovereignty? It is an illusion, a fantasy. EU membership makes it compulsory to give up sovereignty and do what the EU says we must. The EU project is to control ever more areas of government until all decisions are taken at the EU level, destroying the very fabric of the nation state.

So back to that extremist situation of countries that don't share sovereignty. Let's consider some countries around the world who in the view of John Major are clearly extreme because they enjoy undiluted sovereignty...

• United States
• Canada
• Brazil
• Japan
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• India
• Chile
• Israel
• South Africa 

In fact if you look at the list of WTO countries who are not EU members, there are 135 of them that are independent, govern themselves, have courts that are supreme, and who engage in international cooperation in matters of mutual interest. And, surprise surprise, North Korea isn't one of them. But that is precisely why Major and the Remain side single out that country as an example of what it's like to be outside the EU, because the reality shows their argument to be ridiculous.

What really stood out in Major's interview is that he did not answer a single question he was asked. He avoided addressing every point raised by John Humphrys because to answer them honestly would have exposed his position as irrational, illogical and unreasonable.

That is the point. The Remain side has no reasonable, logical or rational argument for staying in the EU. Everything we supposedly gain from EU membership can be had outside it, without giving up control of running Britain and without our courts being overruled by the European Court of Justice. The Remain campaign is driven by the vested interests of the political class, assisted by useful idiots and those who reject democracy.

The reason the Remain side don't want an independent Britain is because having one would reduce the power of the politicians and political class in the EU. Voters in individual countries, where the EU is not in control, could reject any political party that sought to implement laws and rules they deem inappropriate, and that ability weakens the power of the politicians over the people. The EU exists to serve the interests of politicians while subverting the wishes of voters. It is a deliberate effort to erode and destroy democracy. That's why the establishment and majority of the political class like it so much.

Leaving the EU would enable Britain to escape from this appalling, anti democratic political stitch up. It would end this ludicrous pretence of shared sovereignty, which is the description for having the rules made for you by others. A vote to leave is a vote towards holding politicians to account and making them work in our interest, not theirs. A vote to leave is a declaration that democracy must prevail.