Sometime this year, most probably in June or September, the UK electorate will be asked if they want to remain in, or leave the European Union (EU). Although common sense would suggest that there should be no fundamental change in the relationship, the outcome could be messy divorce, as the UK electorate, like many others across the world, has become volatile, angry and subjective.
Unfortunately, ‘Brexit’, as it is known, has become conflated with deep-seated national concerns about migration and the pressure this may be placing on social services; a belief that the financial cost of membership is too high; and an abiding sense that for many in Britain creeping federalism through the idea of ‘ever closer union’ and the continuing loss of sovereignty, are undercutting the country’s traditional sense of independence and identity.
This is not helped by the fact that the issues involved are technical, mind-numbingly dull for most voters, hard at times to say yes or no to without qualification, and partially confused by the seemingly marginal concessions that
