I’m voting for Brexit because it could rescue the EU, not destroy it

ONE of the jibes frequently trotted out by Remainers is that those proposing to vote ‘out’ today are Little Englanders who want to pull down the shutters, and leave our fellow Europeans to their own devices.

According to this absurd line of thinking, narrow-minded outers are self-ishly consigning people in the rest of the EU to, at best, an uncertain fate; at worst, to the prospect of bitter division and economic mayhem.

Even among some people intending to vote for brexit, there is an underlying concern that however strong the arguments for leaving the EU, it is wrong to leave our European partners in the lurch.

The normally admirable historian Antony beevor goes so far as to suggest that ‘if britain pulls out and thus provokes or accelerates its disintegration, we will instantly achieve most-hated-nation sta-tus, not just in Europe but far beyond’.

I believe that is almost exactly the oppo-site of what would happen. It is almost certainly the case that the European political elite would greet a brexit vote with a combination of resentment and vituperation. A lot of nasty things would be said about britain.

but in bars from Stockholm to Madrid, in homes from Athens to Helsinki, there will be widespread rejoicing among many ordinary people if we do vote to leave the EU, as I devoutly hope we shall.

Indeed, I would go further. If we care about the future of our continent, which we obviously should, the best way to defend its interests is to vote Leave, which would deliver a shock to the members of the Euro elite that just might turn their minds to sensible reform.

LET me explain. That the EU — and in particular the Eurozone — is in crisis can scarcely be disputed. The euro has brought economic sclerosis and social misery in varying degrees to the countries, with the exception of Germany, that are part of the common currency.

Mass migration has deepened public resentment and, along with the economic malaise, helps to explain the rise of far-Right and far-Left parties — Golden dawn in Greece, the Freedom Party in Austria, Afd in Germany, the National Front in France, and several others.

We delude ourselves if we think Euroscepticism is a purely british phenomenon. In fact, there are European countries where it is even stronger. A poll by the U.S. research company Pew earlier this year found that 61 per cent of respondents in France have an unfavourable view of the EU, com-pared with a more modest 48 per cent in britain.

This is hardly astonishing given that France has an unemployment rate twice that of britain, and has enjoyed far lower growth over the past four or five years. Some of this abysmal performance is attributable to the misguided economic policies of the socialist President Hollande, but much can be laid at the door of the euro.

Even in Italy, traditionally the most Europhile of countries, there is burgeoning resentment against brussels and its edicts. on Sunday, candidates from the anti-euro Five Star Movement were elected mayors of Rome and Turin.

Note that poor Italy is an even sad-der basket case than France, with an economy scarcely bigger than it was when the euro was introduced on January 1, 1999, since when british GdP has grown by more than a third. In a previous generation, the country would have devalued the lira long ago. Now it is locked into the euro at an uncompetitive rate.

Euroscepticism and loathing for brussels are on the rise in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Holland, denmark, Finland and many other EU countries. Unsurprisingly, they reach their zenith in Greece, where, according to Pew, 71 per cent of respondents have an unfavourable view of the EU.

Reasonably enough, the Greek people blame Germany and the European Central bank for onerous repayment conditions attached to a series of so-called rescue packages. The Greek economy has shrunk by 27 per cent, and there is near starva-tion in some sectors of society and a shortage of basic medicines.

Almost all this needless and shaming suffering can be blamed on the ruinous euro, a political project intended by mostly unac-countable officials to draw the countries of the Eurozone into ever closer union. In the event, it has fostered dissent, division and despair — and led to the rise of Euroscepticism.

There are a few signs that even the arrogant European elite is beginning to wake up to the enormity of its mistakes. This is what President donald Tusk (one of five unelected EU presidents) recently said. ‘obsessed with the idea of total and instant integration, we failed to notice that ordinary people, the citizens of Europe, do not share our Euro enthusiasm.’

What an admission! Tusk, who may be slightly more enlightened than most European mandarins, is essentially conceding that an unpopular and ill-conceived policy has been foisted on the inhabit-ants of the EU by their high-and-mighty masters.

Now, let us for a moment make the nightmarish assumption that today the british vote to stay in the EU. This would be regarded by brussels as nothing short of victory, and any small impulse there might be to reform the EU, or to temper the speed of integration, would immediately be set aside.

Though britain would doubtless escape some of the worst aspects of this process, the Eurozone coun-tries would not, and the great unifying project would trundle on. Is it not likely that the consequence would be more social unrest, greater unhappiness, and the rise of more extremist parties?

by contrast, if we vote in favour of brexit it is possible — just possible — that the European elite will realise that it has to change at least some of its ways if the EU is not to collapse alto-gether under the weight of mounting Euroscepticism.

MoREoVER, it is likely that our example of leaving this dysfunctional organisation would encourage people in those countries with a strong sense of Euro-scepticism where britain is still much admired to follow suit.

obviously, I don’t include the French in this category, since they look to no one but them-selves for inspiration. but it is certainly plausible that brexit would lead countries such as Sweden (which is not in the Eurozone) to contemplate secession.

Indeed, various polls in Sweden have indicated that if britain voted ‘out’, the enthusiasm for doing likewise would grow markedly. According to one of them, the proportion of Swedes wishing to leave the EU would increase from 39 to 59 per cent if britain left.

In other words, brexit could both lead to vital reforms within the EU (though given the myopic obduracy of the Euro elite, these would not be easily accomplished) and to other countries realising there is an alternative future. The great, undemocratic EU juggernaut, which has brought such distress to so many European people, could be stopped in its tracks.

So when I go into my local polling station today, I will not be worrying about upsetting the likes of donald Tusk and the arch-federalist Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission. I shall rejoice if they rail against britain in the way the historian Antony beevor fears, since I do not believe they speak for many people other than themselves.

There are, of course, many sound reasons of national self-interest for voting brexit, which have been much debated in recent weeks. but there is another important motiva-tion. Today, I shall also be voting for my fellow Europeans.