What else is the EU elite hiding from us?

WITH only ten days to go before the referendum, how much are Number 10 and our partners keeping back from voters about the EU’s plans for the future?

The question is brought into sharp focus by yesterday’s leaks of British diplomats’ cables, discussing policies not intended to be publicly aired until the vote is safely out of the way.

In one, our representatives in Amsterdam say the Dutch have agreed to cooperate in delaying controversial Brussels announcements until after June 23.

In another, the Foreign Office’s people in Ankara advise ministers to consider offering visa-free access to as many as 1.5million Turks with ‘special passports’, to complement the EU’s plans to open up the border-free Schengen area to Turkey’s population of 80 million.

Indeed, throughout the campaign, David Cameron has been anxious to quash any talk of Turkey’s ambition to join the EU, repeating yesterday: ‘It’s not gonna happen.’

But how does this square with his declaration to the Ankara parliament in 2010: ‘I’m here to make the case for Turkey’s membership of the EU – and to fight for it’?

As recently as December 2014, he was still insisting: ‘In terms of Turkish membership of the EU, I very much support that.’ So what is going on behind the scenes? Meanwhile, as previous leaks have revealed, Brussels has postponed publication of a wide range of other proposals affecting all its members, from forming a European army to meeting the alarming shortfall in its budget.

As for the pressing question of where the money will come from for the next Greek bailout, this too has been put on hold until Britain’s polling stations close next week.

The unmistakable aim is to keep the electorate in the dark, so as to avoid frightening the horses before the country makes its decision.