Democracy is the loser in EU’s doublethink

If I had to boil down my reasons for voting Leave into one word, it would be “democracy”. God knows Britain has its flaws, but we should all be proud of how this country developed and exported the idea that making laws and levying taxes ought to be the preserve of elected representatives.

The EU, by contrast, is run by a politburo, supported by a caste of lobbyists, rent-seekers and quangocrats.

Public opinion is seen as an obstacle to remove, not a reason to change course.

If you think I’m laying it on a bit thick, consider what has happened since last year’s vote.

No one in Brussels stopped to ask why 52 per cent of Britons wanted to withdraw, let alone whether they might have had any justification.

The response, rather, was to talk tough in the hope that the UK would back down. Even now, many Eurocrats publicly and privately talk of Britain changing its mind.

If that sounds odd from our perspective, recall the EU’s customary response to referendums it doesn’t like. In Denmark (twice), France, Ireland (twice) and the Netherlands (twice), votes were held again or simply ignored.

At the same time, British Europhiles have revealed their disdain for the ballot box.

The referendum, they say, should be re-run, EU-style. To make that happen, they propose a new party, with Tony Blair as frontman.

And what would this grotesque alliance of AC Grayling, Peter Mandelson and Richard Branson be called?

The title currently in the frame, apparently, is “the Democrats”: quite a name for a party established solely to frustrate the wishes of the electorate.