How I'll Vote in EU Referendum.

On 23rd June I will vote in favour of the UK leaving the European Union. I voted to leave the European Economic Community in 1975 and would have voted to leave at any stage over the last 43 years if asked (though to be totally honest I've never wanted to be asked the question in an In/Out referendum). Referendum on Treaty change Yes, but not an In/out. Too many uncertainties. I'm believing almost nothing from either Leave or Remain camps.

Carrying out many differing responsibilities over last three decades, I have always worked enthusiastically and positively with the European Union in the best interests of whatever organisation I happened to be representing at the time. But put simply, I have never believed that the UK should be subsumed into an undemocratic bureaucracy, which is today's European Union - and which I believe has always been the dream of those who have championed European integration from it's beginnings in the 1950s. I want the UK to work constructively with our European neighbours, but as an independent state, free to trade and engage with the whole world. I listened to Lord (David) Owen in Welshpool Town Hall recently, making a speech from a 'Leftist' perspective which I could have made from a 'Rightist' perspective - focussing on democracy and sovereignty.

While I am totally confident and certain in the integrity of my opinion, I fully accept that there are many good reasons why the UK should remain a member of the EU - as there are many good reasons why the UK should leave. I had intended to write a more nuanced blog post on this issue, but decided there is no point in being an MP unless I state clearly what I believe. I do not intend to campaign in support of my opinion. It is a referendum in which the opinions of all UK citizens are of equal value. The Welsh General Election is now over, and I wanted to make clear and public my position on the important question facing us on June 23rd.