I want us to vote to Leave the EU before it’s too late, because that’s the safer choice for Britain.

If we vote to stay we’re not settling for a secure status quo.

We’re voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration.

Brussels has already set out some of its plans for the next great transfer of powers to the EU in what’s called the “Five Presidents’ Report”.

The EU wants more power over taxes and banks.

Sadly, we’ve surrendered our veto on these moves.

And - what’s worse - if we try to object, the European Court of Justice can overrule us.

The Court has been strengthened through the new Charter of Fundamental Rights. It  can now control how we apply asylum rules; how our intelligence services monitor suspected terrorists and whom we can deport.

And just as we are losing all this power, we’re on the hook to pay more money as new countries join the EU.

But if we vote to leave, we take back control.

We can take back the £350 million we give to the EU every week. We can spend more on our priorities like the NHS.

We can take back control of our economy. 

The EU has failed to secure trade deals with the huge economies of India, China and America. Outside the EU we can cut those deals. 

Outside the EU we would still benefit from the free trade zone which stretches from Iceland to the Russian border. But we wouldn’t have all the EU regulations which cost our economy £600 million every week.

We can take back control of our borders. 

Inside the EU we have to accept that anyone with an EU passport - even if they have a criminal record - can breeze into this country. That will include countries in the pipeline to join the EU - Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

Outside the EU we could have a points-based system like Australia. We could welcome talented people  from across the world but block those whose presence here isn’t in our interests.

Britain is a great country - the world’s fifth largest economy with the world’s best armed forces, best health service and best broadcaster. 

We are first in the world for soft power thanks to our language, culture and creativity. And yet the In camp try to suggest that we’re too small and too weak, and our people are too hapless and feckless to succeed without Jean-Claude Juncker looking after us.

That’s a deeply pessimistic and negative vision.

Britain could do better. We’re a uniquely inventive nation. Our greatest invention is representative democracy - the principle that the people who run our country should be chosen by us and can be kicked out by us. It’s time to take back control.