The EU cannot survive the desire for democracy

All this Brexit problematising really should be a wake-up call. The message here is that integration has gone too deep to realistically untangle ourselves. That's not far off the truth as it happens. Even if we vote out now we're not going to get out all in one go and it will take many years to accomplish. It will take a mammoth effort to escape the gravitational pull of the EU. I suppose that was the intent of the EU modus operandi - to never give anybody a say until it is too late.

And so in this, anyone thinking of voting to remain on the basis of it not being the right time, the truth is, there is never going to be a right time and it is only ever going to get worse. It might even be now or never.

Given that there has been no treaty reform, no powers have been restored, no competences reviewed, no opt-outs secured, a vote to remain is very much a vote to remain in an unreformed EU - and one that is never going to be reformed.

Even if Cameron had secured a stop on ever closer union, in practice it will not be upheld not least since we don't have the early warning mechanism of effective representation. We won't know when the EU has abused its power until it's too late and the likelihood is that the media won't report it even if it notices it at all. They don't know where to look or what channels to monitor and are too distracted by the trivialities of Wesminster. There are no guarantees against further integration by stealth.

The Remain camp speaks of uncertainty, but they have no more idea what the EU's agenda is any more than I do. We only know one thing and that is that power will continue to flow away from member states and into the hands of the EU at every opportunity. The very opposite of democracy. And once power is taken and asserted, it is never returned.

We have heard the mantra for years that "the EU is not perfect but we should stay and reform it". We get this from those part-timers who know little about the EU and pay little attention to it. It's empty rhetoric. The democratic deficit, to which they freely admit will never be plugged. While europhiles sneer at those old fogeys at Grassroots Out meetings, they're the ones who have been watching the EU for as long as I've been alive - and they know what I know. The EU is the most reform immune institution on earth. That is why there is such burning resentment of it. It's lie after lie.

In this we should worry. If Leave loses this vote, we can say it's likely that forty per cert or more will still want to leave the EU, with a large proportion of Remain voters actively disliking the EU. If we are locked in a system where decisions are irreversible and nothing is ever up for renegotiation then the people are ensnared. It may not be for some time until people wake up and realise what has been done to them, but when they realise their are no democratic tools at their disposal to change their government (and yes, the EU is a government), what then? Civil disobedience? Rioting? Forced exit?

When such an unpopular entity holds so much power, with so little accountability, and so little mandate, how can we ever expect to de-toxify politics, especially when our establishment have used every means at its disposal to ensure we stay in? At least in the Scottish referendum the losers could be somewhat pacified by DevoMax, which is not altogether a poor package of devolution, but what to the British voters get? Nothing. Nothing at all. They'll get gloating europhiles rubbing their noses in it while the con-man Prime Minister gets away with it. There will be a price to pay. There has to be.