‘This is a vote for an innovative, global Britain accountable to you’

‘The Leave campaign is the side with the ambition for Britain, and the belief in the British people’

THE referendum this Thursday is a chance to vote for ambition and hope. Britain faces challenges and opportunities ahead, in or out of the European Union. But, we can only reach our full potential if we take back democratic control over the direction and destiny of our country.

There are risks on either side. But, the risks of remaining in the EU are greater – including double-digit eurozone unemployment, dangerous levels of Italian debt which beckon the next financial crisis, and a broken EU immigration system. We’d be better placed to weather these looming storms from outside the EU.

But, the choice on Thursday should not be between alternative strategies of damage limitation. We’re better than that. It should be a vote on how Britain can go from strength to strength. Voting to leave is the right thing for jobs and innovation.

Our small businesses – which create 85 per cent of new jobs – would be free from straitjacket red tape that deters hiring. And tech start-ups would be released from suffocating regulation, like the newly agreed EU Data Protection Regulation, which the Government estimates will clobber the UK economy for £360 million each year.

Of course, we’ll continue trading with the EU. Only a suicidal German chancellor or French president would go into their 2017 elections promising to put thousands of German car workers and French farmers out of jobs, by hiking tariffs with Britain.

But, UK exports to the EU have fallen since 2011 – not creating any new jobs. Meanwhile, UK exports to the rest of the world are rising fast. Far from needing to cling on to the EU for dear life, a sober long-term assessment suggests our horizons must gradually expand away from the shrinking continental market, to take in the growing opportunities of the future – from Latin America to Asia. That’s impossible if we stay in the EU, because we can’t negotiate free trade deals in our own right, and Britain is held back by the protectionism and special interests of an EU of 28.

On immigration, the principled choice is to end the discrimination in Britain’s approach to EU migrants compared to non-EU migrants. That’s how to take full advantage of the brightest global talent – with an Australian-style points-based system – while managing the costs that opendoor immigration puts on wages, housing and the NHS.

If this is such a bad idea, why aren’t the Remain camp arguing to apply EU free movement rules to immigration from the rest of the world too? Above all, I want us to be masters of our own destiny. With around 60 per cent of UK laws made in or derived from Brussels, we’ve reached a tipping point where that’s no longer possible.

When was the last time you got to vote out, or hold to account, the 27 heads of government in the European Council, the 27 EU Commissioners, or the 90 per cent of Members of the European Parliament, who aren’t appointed by or elected in the UK, but now write a majority of our laws?

So, this Thursday is a chance to vote for an innovative, global Britain, cooperating and trading with all – but democratically accountable to you.

At heart, it’s also a choice between optimism and pessimism. The Remain camp have spent four months telling us Britain won’t amount to much, standing on our own two feet. The Leave campaign is the side with the ambition for Britain, and the belief in the British people.

This Thursday is a vote of confidence – in Britain, and in you.