EU REFERENDUM : OLDER GENERATION AND SMALL BUSINESS HAS IT RIGHT.

It's interesting to consider the motivations of the different groups lining up for the forthcoming referendum.

Politicians and officials who love being at the head of vast, bureaucratic and undemocratic organisations are mostly in favour of the UK remaining within the EU. A vote to 'Remain' means that they can all carry on as before, touring around Europe at public expense and looking ever so important. A vote to 'Leave' seriously threatens this, so they will lie, cheat and basically do anything to try to convince us to say in.

The leaders of international companies also want us to 'Remain', though there reasons are quite different. They simply want to avoid any potential barriers to their businesses; they don't like the idea of trade barriers and tariffs, so also much prefer sticking to what we have now rather than risking a trip into the unknown. Meanwhile, small businessmen, who are mostly older people, see a vote to 'Leave' as freeing them from much of the ludicrous and stifling rules and regulations which flow daily from Brussels, and so long for change and an exit.

When we come to the general population, there seems to be a huge divide between younger and older voters. The older members of our society have experienced the European Union at ground level and  in all its full horror for decades and can't wait to leave. They want the UK to reclaim its sovereignty, decide on its own laws and policies, manage its borders properly and so on; they are overwhelmingly in favour of a vote to 'Leave'.

On the other hand, the younger generation, who have little if any experience of either the EU or the real world, want us to 'Remain'. They see staying in the EU as their passport to easy travel and lots of fun; in fact, they have no wider view of things than the borders of their own self-gratification. Thankfully, history tells us that this is the group least likely to bother to vote as they don't really have much interest in anything but themselves and their own pleasures.

This all leaves us with two groups with seriously vested interests, one group which knows how stifling the EU is for small business, one group which is interested only in itself and one group which has a wider view and is genuinely concerned for the future of this country and its people. There is only one choice -VOTE LEAVE.

EU REFERENDUM : WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF 'REMAIN' ?

It is noticeable that David Cameron's much vaunted 'renegotiation' of the UK's terms of membership to the European Union has hardly been mentioned for several weeks. Clearly, the 'Remain' campaigners see no benefit to be gained from continuing to claim that Cameron achieved anything of significance as he patently didn't. It is, perhaps, a little surprising is that those who support the 'Leave' campaign have also said very little about this 'Munich' moment of Cameron, though that may be due to a misguided desire to leave any possible reference to Hitler out of the equation.

What is very obvious is that the 'Remainers' actually have nothing positive to say about the Union but are relying on a torrent of scare stories to encourage voters to accept the status quo. So far, we've been told that leaving the Union 'could' cause economic chaos with huge loss of trade, a collapsing currency, increased interest rates and everyone much worse off, 'could' lead to massive reduction in our safety and security, could lead to problems with our power supplies, 'could' result in terrible difficulties for travellers and Britons who have chosen to live in various European countries, 'could' make cooperation in scientific research much more difficult, 'might' make it difficult for students to gain places at European colleges and universities, 'might' lead to the Scots demanding another independence referendum, and a raft of other things including that it 'could' even cause World War three.

That this is all utter rubbish goes without saying. Of course, there are risks associated with leaving the Union, but there are greater risks if we remain inside this moribund organisation. Inevitably, remaining within the EU will lead to the dreaded 'ever closer union' whether we like it or not. Eventually, we will be forced to accept fully open borders and, quite probably, the Euro. The assorted European institutions will become evermore powerful and our own parliamentary arrangements largely irrelevant; there will be a European foreign policy and defence policy, to both of which we will have to subscribe, and our armed forces will come under the leadership of a pan-European military head. While expanding its borders eastward, the Union will, in reality, become more inward looking and protectionist, its institutions less and less accountable. These are not 'might be's or 'coulds', these are inevitabilities and are the real risks to be considered by voters.

Yesterday, Michael Heseltine, an ardent Europhile,  made an appalling personal attack on Boris Johnson, saying that he has acted irresponsibly and recklessly, and that he has made "preposterous, obscene political remarks" during the referendum campaign. If this is the level to which the 'Remain' side have now sunk, one has to wonder how much of a case they really have. Heseltine, while telling us all that we must stay in the EU seems to have little if anything positive to say about it; in truth, there is nothing positive to say about it. Staying in the EU is the coward's choice; voting to 'Remain' is a vote for a status quo which seems comforting but which will lead to this country having less and less ability to manage its own affairs and more and more subservience to largely unelected, unaccountable, faceless and corrupt bureaucrats somewhere on the European continent.

VOTE LEAVE !

EU REFERENDUM : LAGARDE HAS HER TURN.

Following Mark Carney's comments yesterday, today it's been the turn of another Europhile mate of Cameron and Osborne to tell us how terrible a vote to leave the EU would be. Christine Lagarde, hardly an impartial commentator though head of the International Monetary Fund, has stuck her neck out at the behest of the 'Remain' campaign and done her best to support it.

However, as with Carney's statements, Lagarde has qualified her remarks with 'could', saying that Brexit "could lead to technical recession". She was rather more definite than Carney and did say that a vote to leave would have "pretty bad to very, very bad consequences" but, in reality, all she's actually done is to reiterate the now rather tired mantra of the 'Remain' campaign. Flanked by her pal, Europhile George Osborne, she added that she had "not seen anything that's positive" about Brexit which, in political speak, actually means that she's avoided looking at anything which doesn't support her own view of things. Exactly like Carney's comments of yesterday, Lagarde has apparently made a damning critique of Brexit while also covering her back in the event of her being wrong.

Those campaigning for a 'Leave' vote have immediately made the obvious riposte that the IMF has been wrong before and it's wrong now. In truth, the IMF's record of forecasting has frequently been wrong, sometimes woefully so, and it has been wrong in most of its recent forecasts regarding the UK's economy. Nonetheless, it seems that Lagarde will have yet another go at frightening the UK electorate just before the referendum and will no doubt make similarly sounding, but in truth highly guarded, remarks.

The question remains about the appropriateness of organisations such as the IMF and other foreign dignitaries and officials interfering in what is an internal matter for the UK. In the case of Mme. Lagarde, her own nationality, past history and impartiality must all be added to the mix. For UK voters, her views must be seen as highly suspect and they should not be deterred. VOTE LEAVE.