#EUreferendum I have voted LEAVE - why?

It is done. I needed a postal vote as I will be at the Glastonbury Festival on 23rd June. I have completed and posted it. I have voted to LEAVE the EU. I was always going to do so - it was never in doubt.

Why did I vote leave?

My decision is a rounded one. I have no reservations. I will list the principal ones but first the stand out one.

THE STANDOUT REASON

• To uphold our democracy that was wonderfully built, fought for and preserved for us by our ancestors often at great personal cost. It is a legacy we have enjoyed. It is a legacy that has allowed us to flourish. The strength off our democracy - our parliamentary system - has been universally admired around the world. It has been a beacon of hope. We have helped establish democracy in many countries and where people now live free. (India, Australia, NZ come to mind to name but a few.) It is something that we should handover to the next generation intact - indeed strengthened - to our children and grandchildren. But we having been giving it away - it has been watered down - we can no longer call ourselves truly free. The majority of our laws are now made elsewhere - our courts and our parliament are no longer supreme - we cannot control who can come to this country and why - and worst of all we can no longer remove those that rule over us - they are unelected - jobs for life - unaccountable eurocrats and bureaucrats. This is obscene and spineless set against what our forbears stood for for us. We should be ashamed that we have been so cavalier with our hard won democracy. We should be ashamed that we are giving away something that we are only actually temporary custodians of. We have no moral right to shackle future generations to an unelected, self serving, undemocratic political union. (particularly as it is dubiously justified as for economic advantage - money.) We need to reestablish who we are and what we stand for - this will be healthy for our national self esteem. Currently we are a nervous increasingly undefined euro blob.

SOME OTHER GOOD REASONS

• Well there are the good economic reasons - I believe the EU as a project is dying and we will do better unshackled and free to do our own deals with the world. I believe we will be able to because we are the 5th largest economy in the world and an enormous market to be able to sell into. There will be some short term risks in leaving for sure but I have no doubt there are just as many remaining in the EU and definitely greater long-term economic risks in staying because the EU project is a badly constructed model. If it is to survive it will need greater political integration - a federalisation of Europe and that is a horrible prospect. I actually believe if we leave the EU other countries will take our lead and follow as the self serving EU is not working.
• On trade deals I see this as simple logic. We are a massive market. We make good things. We are world leaders in services. If people want to sell to us which they will then then we will be able to sell to them. If people want to buy from us we will be able to sell to them. There will be winners and losers but markets are dominant - not politicians and of course we will have far more customers to go at globally rather than being totally hamstrung by the EU negotiators having to do it for us. We can and will be optimistic about the prospects for the future.
• I believe immigration numbers are totally out of control and therefore we cannot plan. This is having a dramatic effect on OUR community. For quality of life reasons we must be able to plan and to decide who we want here and why. As the EU is intransigent on this issue we have to leave and introduce out own points based system. This is logical and reasonable.
• By leaving the EU it does not follow we cannot travel, work and cooperate with other countries for the common good. Remain keep saying we need to be in the EU to fight climate change - for our security. Of course we can and will still engage on these issues. Many of them we already take a lead on anyway. On big security we are in NATO. In other matters we are in the G7 and G20.
• Remain say better to stay in the EU to fight - to shape and influence it. We have seen what is possible. Cameron's renegotiation! The EU is unreformable. We are a voice on the edge. There are 27 other countries - the majority of which are net beneficiaries who want things to stay the same. Poland wants our money. French farmers benefit massively from CAP. The French government are scared of them. They are not going to agree to anything that reduces what they can take from us. It is obvious.
• Finally a comment on the EXPERTS arguing remain. My thoughts - "experts" are often wrong. Too often they suffer from "group speak" - follow the pack - make the same assumptions. There are many vested interests. Many are risk averse. I have no difficulty in accepting there is a increased risk of some economic disruption in the short term. They might be right that growth will slow in the short term - but I do not think they can and have taken into account what the ingenious British people are capable of. We can stand on our own two feet with pride and decency and go forward into the world with confidence.

There is much more I could write - but this should be enough to please vote LEAVE - for a confident and truly democratic future for you and future generations.