Cabinet Ministers opposing the policy of the government of which they are members are complaining that scaremongering is rife and that there will be a price to pay when the referendum is over in the form of disunity both in the government and the Tory party. The truth is that the Tory party may well break up in the aftermath of the vote, which is only happening because for years it has been split on the fundamental issue of Europe. With the current political and economic problems facing the world and therefore the UK, a vote to leave Europe or stay is a wholly irrational political project. It is not in the national interest; it is to save the Tory party from its schism and driven by the threat to it from UKIP.
When Britain entered into the EU, or the common market as it was then known, China was a closed Communist country without an economy that had any impact on the world at all. The emerging markets did not exist. Germany was split in two and the Cold War was in full swing. Half the members of the current EU were Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain. There was no such thing as the internet, a PC, a tablet or a smart phone. The world was divided into segments and spheres of influence. Globalisation was unheard of.
This referendum is of greater historic significance than any ordinary election and will impact Britain and its future and the future of Europe more than any can accurately predict. It cannot be fought like a village cricket match on a summer afternoon. It has to be fought with purpose, passion, principle, energy and anger, as well as hope and inspiration. The nature of these things is that friends will fall out and enemies will embrace. It is entirely right to point out in the strongest possible terms that leaving would be a complicated and troublesome process, the impacts of which cannot be accurately predicted either for employment, economic growth, prosperity, travel, the free movement of capital or indeed anything. The world is a very different place in all respects to the one we left to join and we cannot turn the clock back.
Of course Great Britain is strong enough to prosper but let us not forget that although WWII lasted six years, rationing went on for thirteen and of all the post war economies in Europe ours was on most measures the least successful. We have the lowest productivity among the industrial nations even now. So what is required from the Leave people is a plan, carefully costed and explained, if not in detail, certainly in general terms of how it is we are going to unravel the European web in which we now live, and create a new international habitat in which we will prosper better. So far there is nothing of substance whatsoever except a lot of vague generalities which fail to define the opportunities and smack of wishful thinking.
Leave must stop grumbling and start producing some concrete plans to answer very real anxieties about a leap into the dark. If they cannot, voting with them will be just that.