Tomorrow we can restore our democracy.
A free people can make their own laws, impose their own taxes, decide on their own spending together.
A free people can elect their representatives, lobby them to carry out their wishes, and dismiss them if they fail to heed the popular will.
A free people are all under the same law, adjudicated in their own courts, and impartially administered by people accountable to their Parliament.
Inside the EU much damage has been done to these essential freedoms which we should hold dear.
We live in a  nightmare world of 5 Presidents, an unelected Supreme Court, a Commission which does not bend to our will.
We elect none of these people and cannot get rid of them when they let us down.
We have a puppet Parliament at Westminster, that has to bow to EU law and European Court instructions.
UK awake!
Let every man and woman do our democratic duty.
Let us grasp the opportunity of this vote.
Let us once again be a free and sovereign people.
June 22, 2016
Don’t worry John. I’ll be at the front of the queue. Fingers crossed etc and praying for a good result. It’s now or never.
Thanks for all your hard work and I hope for your sake we get the result we want.
June 23, 2016
A glorious dawn here in Cornwall, and deo volente a glorious day for Britain, to go down in history with VE Day 1945 and Restoration Day 1660, when the people cheered themselves silly and the fountains ran with wine.
June 23, 2016
I will be proudly voting leave today. For those not sure or vote remain, do not whinge when you cannot see a doctor, cannot get your child in school or get on the housing ladder. Do not moan you feel unsafe by potential terrorists attacks, through immigration or freedom of movement.
Do not be surprised that everything Cameron and Osborne told you turns out to be untrue. The nasty smears and innuendos while claiming to change the party! As a long Tory supporter I could not vote for these shysters. Look at their record to date, as I said before, do not blame me I voted UKIP. Vote leave today.
June 23, 2016
So assuming it is lost by a small margin (as now looks likely) where does that leave the Tories.
It is fairly clear that there would have been a huge majority for leave, had the Tories had a Conservative leader (rather than a libdem, fake EU sceptic, greencrap serial ratter). It is also clear that without the truly nauseous milking of the death of Jo Cox, the single sided government leaflet of propaganda & lies, the relentless bias of the BBC and all the other “project fear” and essentially “cheating” by Osborne and Cameron leave would have been well ahead. It is also very clear that the vast majority of Conservative partly members are for leave.
Where does this leave Cameron/Osborne and the Tories? The both need to go in short order.
We need an orderly transition to a sensible real Tory leader and after an easily and overwhelming victory against the dire Corbyn (on a leave manifesto) we should just leave.
June 22, 2016
The weather forecast in my part of the UK says “a small chance of a heavy shower.”
Good, the less chance of Juncker and his High Command coming to picket the polling stations the better.
…_
June 22, 2016
Well said John.
You left out the bit about the lies we have had to listen to about Turkey.
On the 27th there will be a meeting with the EU and Turkey about entry. Why have meetings if it is not going to happen?
The English nation is treated as fools by the EU and sadly too many of the elected politicians cannot or will not see it.
June 23, 2016
@turboterrier; You left out the bit about the lies we have had to listen to about Turkey.”
You mean the lies peddled by europhobes, that Turkey will be joining next week, when not only do national leaders such as Cameron hold a veto on any new members joining but Germany is at the moment causing quite a diplomatic bust up with Turkey due to the German Bundestag condemning as genocide the massacre of Armenians 100 years ago.
“The English nation is treated as fools by the EU”
No, many, perhaps a majority of, English, and Welsh, Scots and N.Irish are treated as fools by both the press barons and self-serving politicos.
What ever the result has been today (Thursday) one thing is for sure, the UK needs to take a long hard look at its self, how it does, and perhaps more importantly who does ‘politics’, not only do we need better politicians but we also need a much tighter press regulation, like with broadcasters, newspapers should by law have to give a balanced opinion within their print editions and online.
June 23, 2016
Turkey are already half in the EU !!!
EU are sending billions of our tax money direct to Turkey, they will have free and open access to travel throughout the Schengen Zone from October this year, the UK has said it will allow up to 1 million Turks access to the UK within a year, Cameron has said he will pave the road from Ankarra to Brussels, and no doubt more concessions to Turkey will emerge very soon after our Referendum.
‘Of course it is going to happen, it is almost done already !!!
June 23, 2016
Let us hope for victory. We have made good arguments, although I would like to have seen an official Vote Leave hatchet job on George Osborne’s dodgy dossier.
If Vote Leave loses narrowly, there is an existential threat to the Conservative Party. The Remain campaign has been a disgrace – spin, mendacity, FUD and name dropping – and Messrs Cameron and Osborne have been in the vanguard of it.
To survive, the Conservative Party must depose Messrs Cameron and Osborne and it must be made crystal clear that the pro-European wing of the party is finished. This will require a Eurosceptic leader and a Eurosceptic cabinet. Normally, I favour a ‘broad church’ but not to the point of intellectual incoherence and not if the Europhile tail wags the Eurosceptic dog.
June 23, 2016
Very well said Lindsay . This nation’s integrity is at stake .
June 23, 2016
@LMcD; “although I would like to have seen an official Vote Leave hatchet job on George Osborneâs dodgy dossier.”
To do that they would have had to issue their own detailed post Brexit budget, something they did not wish to do, one can only speculate as to why.
“If Vote Leave loses narrowly, there is an existential threat to the Conservative Party.”! [..//..] To survive, the Conservative Party must depose Messrs Cameron and Osborne and it must be made crystal clear that the pro-European wing of the party is finished.
That threat exists what ever the result, the only winners will be Labour if we exit or the LDs and Labour if we stay. This referendum has been as much about the long standing divisions within the Tory party as it has the EU, UKIP being born out of the post Thatcher party strife. To depose Cameron etc will be MAD (as in the military meaning) for the party, an utter senseless act, considering that he has stated that he will step down before the next election.
June 23, 2016
If the result is Remain it doesn’t matter who is in power. To make any further political comment, engage in any further political debate, comment on any political blog and participate in any vote is to take part in the whole deception that we have a democracy.
I will not do it.
Better to leave Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne in place to be humiliated by the EU.
June 23, 2016
Agreed.
It would have been good statesmanship for Cameron and Osborne to have adopted a neutral stance, whatever their personal inclinations, in their official capacities.
I fear that they have damaged not merely their own political credibility by (what I see as) abuse of office and the use of public funds to promote their own views, but that of the Conservative Party – whatever the outcome of the plebiscite.
That was not just unstatesmanlike – quite unnecessarily placing oneself and one’s party in a lose-lose situation is indicative, to me, of grave political ineptitude … time for a motion of no confidence, perhaps.
June 23, 2016
John, as ever, your post is spot-on.
If ‘Remain’ carry the day, we will look back in 20 years and realize that Westminster has morphed into an offshoot of the European Parliament. A ‘rubber-stamp’ parliament obeying the diktats of a socialist, unelected oligarchy in Brussels.
I’d hate to be one of those saying, ‘I told you so…’
The choice is obvious. Vote ‘Leave’. Boris put it beautifully.
Thursday is Independence Day.
June 23, 2016
There will be no Westminster in 20 years time. It will be another one of London’s historic buildings or more likely a Mosque……
June 23, 2016
It seems more likely that it is EUserfdom day. Victory to the liars, the appalling BBC, the Poly Toynbee’s Kinnock’s and the other milkers of the death of Jo Cox.
June 23, 2016
Indeed, if you want to restore democracy and independence there is only one way to vote. If you just want a better deal there is only one way to vote. If you want rid of the dire economic illiterate, tax borrow and waste, IHT ratter, George Osborne there is only one way to vote. If you want a stronger economy, there is only one way to vote. If you want far less red tape, cheaper energy, selective and democratically controlled immigration there is only one way to vote. If we want to get away from paying for yet more Euro bailouts there is only one way to vote.
There are almost no reasons at all for anyone to vote remain in this the first referendum. Britains surely will not actully vote to end their democracy in this way and be EU slaves will they?
We know from EU history that a second better deal will follow as night follows day as we saw with Ireland, if we vote to leave. Whatever the daft EU officials say and threaten.
If we vote remain we will just be walked over and ignored even more that we are already.
The UK voters usually get it right, let us hope they do today. Do not allow the appalling & relentless milking of the tragic death of Jo Cox (by the young Kinnock, Toynbee, Cameron & the rest of the dire remain side) result in the end of UK democracy. Do not let the endless pro EU propaganda from the BBC and the countless tentacles of government (nearly all feeding of the tax payers teat) fool you.
Would Jo Cox really have wanted her tragic death to be remembered for swinging the referendum vote to remain and ending UK democracy for ever?
We must not accept anything more than free trade and voluntary cooperation. We must restore real, accountable, UK based democracy above all else.
June 23, 2016
Allister Heath is spot on as usual today in the Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/22/a-last-minute-plea-vote-leave-and-help-change-the-course-of-hist/
June 23, 2016
Today we must reject technocracy and vote leave to restore & rebuild our democracy.
June 23, 2016
A better deal will certainly follow a Brexit vote so there is no reason at all for anyone to vote remain. In the EU No never means no a better deal will follow we will not escape that easily.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/21/if-you-want-to-be-in-a-reformed-eu-then-you-have-to-vote-to-leav/
June 23, 2016
Lies, lies and more lies from remain.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3655236/Nailed-four-big-EU-lies-Talks-Turkey-stall-Brexit-WON-T-spark-trade-war-say-Germans-Brussels-NOT-reform-open-borders-deportation-jobless-EU-migrants-myth.html
June 23, 2016
Perhaps one of the biggest con tricks from remain (repeated yet again last night on the Paxman debate, channel 4) is the claim that EU immigrants “pay X more in tax than they receive in benefits”. So what?
If one pays the same in tax and one get in benefits one is paying no tax at all. So how does the state pay for schools, houses, roads, the NHS, defence, the police and all the rest of the bloated state sector.
We all, on average, pay far more in tax than we get in benefits. The question is do they pay enough more to pay for all the above services? Clearly the majority, who are on low or no pay, do not. They are clearly a net financial liability to the state and depress overall living standards in the UK.
We need to take only the ones who will be better paid on a point based system.
June 23, 2016
Indeed. I saw a clip of Mr Duncan Smith from yesterday on the BBC exposing the lie about Turkish accession. There is a meeting on the 30th June with the EU to speed up its membership. That must have been known to Mr Cameron and the Remain team who accused the leave team of lying about this. He really demeans his position and undermines what little remains of our democracy. There are so many examples that could be listed.
You are a beacon of light Mr Redwood compared to the disgraceful “remainers” in the Tory and legacy Parties leadership.
June 23, 2016
Dear Mr Redwood. Thank you for fighting for Brexit. My household WILL be voting to exit political union with the EU. I have watched all the arguments from as many sources as possible.
The one thing that strikes me during the campaigns, is the fact our government has appeared unwilling to even propose the concept of inter-governmental cooperation. This to us is far preferable as we wont then be dictated to by Brussels, and our elected parliament can then operate as intended.
Thank you for the great support you have given to all brexiteers. Let us sincerely hope the turnout is good, and that today will be marked forever as UK Independence Day.
June 23, 2016
Indeed free trade, cooperation and democracy is all we, and indeed the whole of the Europe and the World needs.
June 23, 2016
There is no trade off between democracy and greater prosperity, quite the reverse. Stable democracy leads to greater prosperity. Project fear, the idea that Brexit will trigger a trade war & recession is utterly bogus.
The brighter members of the remain side must know this full well?
June 23, 2016
At my Polling Station, turn out, I reckon from observation, (I always vote at the same time in any poll), is significantly up on the GE.
PS. JR, don’t know if this post is embargoed till 10 PM under the rules
June 23, 2016
John,
I would like to thank you for your measured and level headed approach to the referendum debate. Your blog has been a rare voice of reason and common sense.
Whatever the result, please keep up your tireless public service.
June 23, 2016
We are FREE. Free to leave the continent of Europe and go elsewhere. Free to speak our minds, spend our money and make choices on where to work and live.
What we will not have is POWER. And that as, Tony Blair once said, is what the EU is about.
June 23, 2016
I voted Leave. There are good points on each side of the debate but more on the Leave side. The campaign has been a disgrace with flat-out lies from Osborne and distasteful contributions from Farage. To be honest I’m not that bothered what the outcome of the vote will be, a Remain vote (my guess at the outcome) brings me short-term financial gain and I’m convinced that the EU will collapse anyway within my lifetime. Not sure how the Conservative party will survive whatever the outcome. If there is a Remain vote I also expect a big UKIP bounce in N.England (like the SNP after their vote) which could also finish off Labour.
June 23, 2016
Thank you for your sterling efforts, JR, and let us hope for victory.
June 23, 2016
I will be voting OUT today. Nothing I have heard has convinced me to do otherwise.
Thank you for your untiring efforts on our behalf. In moments of doubt, it has been good to know that those I trust have the interests of our country at heart. I wish everyone peace of mind in their decision, and their determination to do what is best for our Country, for which so many have given their lives in the cause of freedom.
June 23, 2016
Thank you for your tireless blogging, John.
I feel that Selina Scott put it best: if the vote is for Remain, why should I ever vote again? Even though I feel cautiously optimistic that a Leave vote will prevail.
And especially since I have very little confidence in how a broadly one-sided parliament will manage a successful transition out of the EU.
June 23, 2016
Win or lose this referendum has exposed all that is rotten in politics. Instead of giving voters the information needed to make an informed choice on how to vote it has told us that truth is an alien concept to most politicians and experts and vested interests trumps that of the country. The stayers were blatant liars and bullies and the leavers were exaggerators (perhaps for the sake of emphasis so some redeeming feature there).
At least leavers did not stray too far from the truth and did attempt to make a believable case. The stayers have shown themselves to be a corrupt and untrustworthy lot who will stoop to any depths to get their way. It does not fair well for post referendum whatever the outcome.
June 23, 2016
Can I just say how appalled I have been with the behaviour of David Cameron during this Referendum Campaign?
Call me old-fashioned but isn’t a Prime Minister and his Government there to listen to and then follow the wishes of the people who elected them to represent them?
He, of course, is as entitled to a personal opinion on the subject as anyone else and he would be perfectly within his rights to say something along the lines of, “My personal opinion is that we’re better off staying within the EU but on 23rd June, you will get the opportunity to tell me what your views are and whatever they are, I will respect them and proceed accordingly”.
He has spent the last couple of months TELLING us how to vote which is surely a complete abuse of his position?
ANYWAY, thank you Mr Redwood for the invaluable contribution you’ve made which has helped to make today’s vote a reality.
June 23, 2016
In a letter to the Telegraph today a Richard Mockett writes:
“If change does not start to happen within two years or if at any time we do not like the direction that the changes are heading, then we can always hold another referendum.”
Of course “we” can, in the sense that while our Parliament is still sovereign it can order a national referendum to be held on any subject it likes at any time it likes.
But that is not “we, the people”, who unlike the Swiss people have no legal mechanism available to compel our Parliament to hold a referendum as and when we want.
I remember that this kind of rumour was put around in 1975, and the prospect of a repeat referendum in say five years’ time was a factor in my decision to vote to stay in the EEC; needless to say that prospect turned out to be no more than a mirage and it has taken us, the British people, four decades to extract a referendum from our politicians.
It’s ridiculous for Cameron and others to brush aside concerns about X or Y because “it won’t be happening any time soon”, because nor will another referendum be happening any time soon; in fact it’s unlikely that we will ever have another referendum.
June 23, 2016
Fingers crossed
June 23, 2016
Agreed and well said.
I wish to add my thanks for your daily discussion of the key issues at stake and the crystal clear way you have presented them.
June 23, 2016
Just voted with wife that’s 2 more. Spoke to 9 people whilst walking dog earlier. All for leave which surprised me as it’s an upmarket area mostly retirees or professional people.
Fingers crossed.
No about Dave and Gideon…………..
June 23, 2016
We all owe you an immense debt of gratitude (and unbeknownst to them so does the rest of the country) for your campaigning for true Conservative values against a morass of lies, obfuscation, political correctness and a determined attempt to muzzle democracy by the incorrectly labelled and so called “progressive” left.
Whatever the result today and we must hope for leave, thank you.
June 23, 2016
I was just old enough to vote for the EC referendum of 1975, I knew very little of what this vote meant so relied on the experts around at the time, since then I have grown up, opened my eyes, asked questions and realise what a dreadful mistake I made.
I have already voted leave by post, hopefully I will be part of the movement that frees us from the over bureaucratic anti democratic nightmare of an organisation that controls our once great nation.
Thank you John, here’s wishing for a brighter future starting Friday morning.
June 23, 2016
Just back from the polling station. In my small village it is normally pretty much deserted at elections but today there were two people in front of me and two behind. I was told that in the first hour 43 people had voted. That’s quite something.
I still have a problem with the design of the booths which I have mentioned before, I could see which way the person in the booth ahead of me voted. These must be changed.
June 23, 2016
And for tomorrow…
I’ve been really impressed with Chris Greyling… always comes across as very knowledgable, calm and collected. So, my vote would go to him as replacement for CMD.
Not sure who to replace Osborne with, any suggestions?
June 23, 2016
I make no apology for this off topic post.
I’ve just been listening to the BBC Today Programme on the plight of the people of Fallujah, 80% of whom have just been liberated from the cruelty of ISIS by Iraqi forces, only to be left starving in the ruins of the city without even water or food in unbearable heat.
It beggars belief that Western Countries have not anticipated this problem, which is one of pure logistics, and organised the propositioning of relief supplies.
Why have Cameron and Justine Greening, with her ludicrously bloated aid budget, not been leading efforts to deal with this ?
All it would take for immediate relief is for her to commission and pay for a few daily RAF flights by our Galaxy C5 transports, each of which can carry 86,000 litres of water per flight or a smaller load with vehicles to transport it, while overland supplies can be organised. I’m sure there are already enough SAS and SBS personnel in the area to organise things on the ground and offer close protection.
We and the USA bear considerable responsibility for events in Iraq and, with Obama unwilling to seemingly take any action on anything, and with the EU likely to spend a couple of months arguing who should do what, it should be down to us to take a lead.
What better demonstration could there be that we really are the fifth largest economy in the world, and, despite Cameron’s best efforts, that we do still have the armed forces to match ?
Could that perhaps be why Cameron and Greening have not acted on it ?
June 23, 2016
Let us hope that the British people will have the courage and imagination to set themselves free. Choosing to do so will be their victory and you deserve much credit for placing it in their grasp, both in helping bring about the referendum and in cogently explaining the issues. Many thanks indeed.
If the outcome is to Remain, that will very likely only postpone rather than prevent UK exit from the EU, although at an increased price.
June 23, 2016
John I wish to add my thanks as well . Your posts and other efforts could not be faulted . I sincerely hope that tomorrow will be our Independence Day .
I further hope to see the back of Cameron and his likes at the helm of the country . I would not trust him one inch if he deals with a post Brexit negotiation . The 1922 Committee have a job to do no matter what the outcome of the referendum vote .
June 23, 2016
I hope and pray that we shall win the day but I believe that even if we don’t get over the line other EU countries have now been given the push they need to get their own referenda started
An analogy I saw yesterday that I thought very apt was that the author considered being asked to vote on a better deal in the EU was akin to being offered a cabin upgrade on the Titanic
June 23, 2016
I agree with you Mr Redwood but this is not a new phenomenon. You and most at Westminster have known this for years. Those of us who could no longer support such dishonesty and corruption moved to UKIP where we have been vilified by that corrupt establishment supported by a dishonest media. All for the most base reasons, power, money and influence. Your leadership has been the worst Government we have ever had. They have instigated the most dishonest campaign this Country has ever seen. Everyone out here in the real world has no faith in the system any more as your leadership will sink to any means, tell any lies and break any rules, to get its way. They have turned my Country into a banana republic. People are all saying about taking pens to the polling stations as they fear your Government will do whatever is necessary to win this vote.
Cameron, Osborne May, Hammond and all the rest must be removed as they have lost all trust with the public.
June 23, 2016
I agree completely with you, Timaction. There will have to be a most fundamental rebranding and restructuring of the “Conservative” Party whatever the outcome. I am ashamed of our government, and applaud those eurosceptic MPs who stood by their principles and fought to Leave. Mr Redwood is one of those, and I thank him for his tremendous work for Leave, and for running this website and allowing us full airing of our views, with constructive debate.
June 23, 2016
Timaction – Many are talking about taking pens in my vicinity too. I say that if we’ve gone that far it won’t matter.
(Most likely using ink will result in a spoiled paper anyway.)
June 23, 2016
Timeaction. Totally agree with your post and many others will do too. I thought the same thing today when I put my X against Leave. Why a pencil???? People should take their own pens in as a pencil mark is easy to erase. This government would stop at nothing to get the vote their way. What has it come to when a country such as ours cannot trust the establishment to the extent that we don’t today? As you say, Banana Republic springs to mind. I have never wanted anything as much as I want a Leave vote today. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and then crossed again!! Good luck to us all. I am still sending out information in the hope that it will persuade one undecider to put their X in the Leave box.
June 23, 2016
Timaction – UKIP got us this referendum and I think they may have lost us it too. The last month’s operation should have been to convert undecided voters, not preach to the already converted with controversial posters and statements on immigration – the undecideds are put off by such language.
Then there was the Cox murder. I think that really put Leave in a bad position even if undeserved.
Nigel Farage should have taken a break and kept back from it.
Whatever the rights or wrongs the ÂŁ350m battle bus was a mistake too.
Ultimately Project Fear has been unrelenting and – dare I say – impressive in its shock and awe.
I sound defeatist. Brexit could edge it but I doubt it very much. It certainly won’t be the trouncing of Remain that it should be.
I would like an emphatic result either way, so that our nation is not divided… so much for the EU being a unifying force !
June 23, 2016
Well said Timaction. Vote Leave have been hindered every step of the way in this referendum campaign.
1) A large number of Cabinet members who, in the past claimed to be “Eurospectic” i.e Hague, Javid, May et al, all declared their intention to campaign to Remain. You have to ask why?
2) The leave side were denied access to Government information to back up their claims, whilst the Remain side had free access.
3) The Remain campaign benefited from an additional ÂŁ9 million of funding when Cameron authorised the “Government funded” pro EU literature. Why this was not challenged I do not know, especially as the Electoral Commission set down strict guidelines with regards to funding. This was clearly a breach of that!
4) Stooges who “defected” from Leave to Remain in the hope of sabotaging their efforts.
5) The “milking” of Jo Cox’s death by the Remain side.
Like Timaction I have little faith in UK politics nowadays. We have a fair number of self serving individuals in Parliament who are happy to see the UK become nothing more than a County Council. They then expect to play politics with that little bit of power they do have left.
June 23, 2016
Timeaction:
I hear you. ..”…they have lost all trust with the public..” ( your last eight words ) I would add…”in that they had the trust of the public.”
Human beings in Parliament …and we who listen to them a good deal more than most, have a grotesquely exaggerated feeling rather than understanding of their position in the hearts of our citizenry.
Bluntly, most are there by a 5-yearly “X” on a soon forgotten bit of paper. Name not known, nor remembered. Bio not known, really. An almost rubber-stamped “X” in reality. Few understand or wish to understand more than a breath of the subject of politics. In a way, and it probably does suggest, a fantastic and wonderful evidence of the stability of the UK.
If the Leave vote is lost by this self-imposed “trust” of our remarkably otherwise intelligent and well-educated people, then the result ongoing will undermine and destroy the political stability of centuries.
If you wish to find people actually interested in politics, then although gagged, people in the former Eastern Bloc were political philosophers to a man. Their children are coming over here, are here, will be here. They are street-wise far in advance of our own people. They are young, now. They will grow up, mature with a history of most broadly speaking Anti-EU-ism to the most violent tier.
Our Establishment is lulled by its present success. They do not have the experience of having a press and a media saying one thing or bifurcated giving the illusion of duality but saying in fact one thing and, a population totally in opposition.
We must win the Leave vote.We must maintain stability in our realm. It is the secret of our success.
June 23, 2016
After the events during the general election, there appears to be no boundary of decency Cameron will not break. We need to know about his letters to Serco and did he enter his talks in bad faith. Why did he not negotiate all the items he promised us? Bloomberg speech? Employment and social policy, promise to return powers back to the UK, then imposes the EAW! Quietly handed over more than ÂŁ1.7 billion to the EU a year after when he stated he would not. Cash from unions to change manifesto pledge to change Union laws. This from a person who promised to clean up Westminster and warned of lobbying being the next scandal!
June 23, 2016
All the polls show that we will vote to “Remain”.
I would just like to say how appalled I am at the way the EU âeliteâ have behaved in the run-up to our referendum. They have proved they are a bunch of puny pygmies. Any normal World leader would have said, generously, that if Britain left the EU then of course they would sit down and negotiation good trade relations with the country and work with the government to make sure both parties get a good deal. But no, we get bullied and threats that they will not do a good deal and that there will be no negotiations in our favour. These are people who have grown very rich on our taxes, the least they can do is sit down and work for the better of both Britain and the EU. The trouble is our government is behaving in just the same way. We get Osborne telling us that he will punish us if we vote to leave by destroying our pensions and putting up taxes and cutting spending on vital services and Cameron telling us WW3 will break out. They are all the same now. Look at the IMF, Bank of England, and all the âthelebritiesâ(all doing very nicely on the EU hand-outs) wheeled out to terrify us. All âlittleâ people trying to frighten us so they do not lose their HUGE salaries, pensions and âextrasâ that we give them.
At least we can kick out our government but there is nothing we can do about the idiots who rule us in the EU â we have to wait for them to die before they go.
June 23, 2016
Thanks for all your hard work towards the campaign, it is clear you have been a powerful force behind vote leave. Even if we lose we’ve made significant leaps forward for next time.
June 23, 2016
John,
You may be interested to know that at my rural polling station there was a queue at about 9 this morning. In many years of voting there I’ve never seen that before. An interesting day (as the old Chinese proverb goes).
June 23, 2016
Nothing to fear, but fear itself.
This blog has been a never-ending source of inspiration, and the whole nation owes John a debt of gratitude for giving us the chance to have our say in a way no other blog does. It has consistently and conclusively shown that Brexit is the best solution.
It has brought a lot of like-minded people together and has absolutely demolished the spurious and fallacious arguments for the United Kingdom to remain within the European Union. Those who dare challenge the Brexit position do so from a position of weakness and are made to account for their position, but are soon proven to be on the wrong side of the argument. And it does so from a position of intellectual strength, not weakness, as a certain pollster seems to want to imply.
I am hopeful for a successful outcome today, but British politics will never be the same regardless of the result, or however the large political parties may wish otherwise. There has been a campaign of fear, falsehoods, and exaggerations, and that indicates a willingness by the Prime Minister and others to again try to deceive the public in order to con everybody to chain themselves to an alien and failing construct.
Tomorrow will see if that strategy has been successful, but a strategy that seeks to fool all of the people all of the time is ultimately doomed to failure. Those who use it eventually lose credibility, as demonstrated when David Cameron was ridiculed and laughed at when Faisal Islam asked him certain fundamentally important questions in a recent interview.
The people of the United Kingdom deserve better than duplicitous politicians with a hidden agenda, and will no longer tolerate their kind.
This really is the biggest chance we have ever had to get out country back and take back our sovereignty, so we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Vote OUT like your whole world depended on it.
Tad Davison
Cambridge
June 23, 2016
It doesn’t look good from the polls, but there’s still hope.
Thanks to our host for his valiant efforts over many years.
If we lose at least we gave it our best shot.
June 23, 2016
Why did science, philosophy, and technology develop so rapidly in Europe and not in China after 1500? Simple. Because China was unified and Europe was not.
China was ruled by imperial civil servants (bureaucrats ) who had passed examinations. They knew everything worth knowing, and this acceptance of authority in matters of thought permeated downward through the culture.
In Europe after the fall of the Roman empire, educated Europeans all had a hankering to restore it. Mercifully they failed.
Traditionally, Britain always used to pursue the policy of opposing any power that looked as if it might gain hegemony over the continent. In other words, Britain consistently acted to keep Europe disunited and this was a good thing.
The result of this disunity was philosophy, science, technology, commerce, all at a level vastly surpassing the achievements of any other period or region in human history.
Just think of how many times in European history, some great innovator was obliged to slip over the border and seek a home in another kingdom. This couldn’t happen in China.
Today we can vote to help make Europe once more a dynamic and innovative continent. We must do so!
June 23, 2016
I think this will leave some Americans scratching their heads and wondering if we’re all crazy, it’s actually quite embarrassing to have this man as Prime Minister:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/brexit-could-cost-you-your-jobs-cameron-tells-u-k-1466584488
“Cameron Pledges Further EU Reforms as âBrexitâ Campaign Enters Last Day”
“European Commissionâs president rules out further concessions”
âThe prime minister said in an interview … that he intended to reopen the issue of freedom of movement … His renegotiation of the terms of Britainâs membership in February … was part of a continuing process, he said.
âIf we stay in the European Union, reform continues on Friday,â Mr. Cameron said Wednesday … â
âShortly after, though, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker … poured cold water on the idea of reopening talks.
âWe have concluded a deal with the prime minister,â Mr. Juncker said in Brussels, referring to the February agreement.
âHe got the maximum he could receive and we gave the maximum we could give.ââ
June 23, 2016
Whatever the result, we will have or keep fighting.
June 23, 2016
Lets hope it happens.
June 23, 2016
Well said once more Mr Redwood, and thank you for working for we Leavers. So now the die is cast, and all we can do is wait until tomorrow to know our fate. But whatever happens, although a Tory, I will never again trust the chancellor, or will I be free from doubt whenever I listen to the PM. Unfortunately I think it likely that many other rank and file members of the Party feel the same.
June 23, 2016
John, thank you for all your clear and helpful postings about the EU and for being the voice of courteous and rational discussion.
I fear that the result will be too close to call, and that there will be a consequent political bloodbath across Westminster.
June 23, 2016
I agree with that. I for one have severed ties with people who tried to kid me all along they were all for getting out of the EU, then at the first chance to do so, have turned their coats and supported the ‘in’ campaign.
The nation has been torn down the middle between those who recognise the truth and are prepared to fight to awaken people, and those with closed minds who have allowed themselves to be deceived by a pack of disreputable liars spouting highly dubious statistics and making false promises on the ‘in’ side.
I have just been reading about all the EU measures that have been put on hold until after the referendum, so that the EU didn’t scare people off. You see, they need us to pay for their errors and failed policies, and dare not let us escape their grasp.
Needless to say, I voted OUT.
Tad
June 23, 2016
sm
Let the blood flow. If we end up with a new brand type of politician like Rabb, Davies, Patterson, Davis, Leadsom and our host then bring it on.
This country deserves better than what we have at present.
Too many of the “old school” have serious baggage and they have shown their shortfalls in taking this country to a higher level.
Some of the so called new generation of minister are as about as exciting as a slap in the face with a wet kipper.
That is the problem in a nutshell they are all Kippers. Two faced and gutless
June 23, 2016
We voted this morning, and got completely soaked doing it.
Thank you for your hard work and campaigning.
June 23, 2016
How vote stack up in parliament.
Con party, 185 for in 141 for out the rest don’t know.
Only 6 labour for out the rest for in.
lib one for or maybe two for out the rest for in.
SNP all for in.
One green for in and one ukip for out.
The lords about 75% for in.
So when it come to voting on how to come out when out win they will vote for article 50 and spend years trying to change your minds with them doing things and blaming it on the out vote but by that time other country will be having ref unless the EU ban any more ref.
Out will win for exit and I am taking some older people down to vote so the fun can start with more fights about what is going to happen but think the people should decide how they come out not a bent parliament.
June 23, 2016
Well said. My polling station was flooded so I had to trudge over a mile to a replacement location to do my bit. The rights of each UK citizen are far more important in the long term than all the geo-political and economic claptrap we have been fed over recent weeks.
June 23, 2016
fingers crossed! Either way you have done a great job! Thank you.
June 23, 2016
FROM THE TWIITTERSPHERE
“Alan TravisVerified account â@alantravis40 1h1 hour ago
Interestingly Ipsos Mori say that 68% of Labour voters intend to back Remain – so it is not true that Lab MPs are at odds with their voters”
It is not that we PREFER the logic of The Telegraph. We have no choice.
June 23, 2016
Thank you for all the time you have put into this day over many years. I’m an avid reader and rare contributer but today my Thanks are in order, whatever the outcome.
Hopefully tomorrow will be the new dawn we are hoping for.
Thank you
June 23, 2016
Dear Dr Redwood,
Win or lose, you have done a quite splendid job. We are all extremely grateful to you and all the time and effort that it must have cost you.
Your bloggs should have received far more publicity.
Best wishes and thank you
June 23, 2016
hear hear
Another thank you for your tireless work here.
June 23, 2016
If leave fails it’s ‘cos it presented its points so badly. Very good arguments were ignored or not emphasised sufficiently. It has taken the Daily Mail TODAY to list 4 major EU lies which were almost forgotten or unknown by Gove, Boris, Grayling etc., etc.
The deportation of jobless migrants after 6 months – how will it be done, is it legal, will the EU permit it? etc.,etc. was never an interrogation point to any Remainers! How is it that only now has the Daily Mail presented these points on the front page? Concentrating on immigration to the detriment of other pertinent arguments was a mistake. Stupid gaffes by Farage and a few others reflect on their ‘thinking’.
The Paxman ‘debate’ was a shambles and meaningless. If leave fails then it will be well deserved IMO.
June 23, 2016
The truth is that this vote will change nothing who ever wins, people will still be pouring into the country, service will continue to be cut with wet & mad trying to bankrupt the country with his mates and changes coming with automation of the work places and big companies paying little tax.
The labour party has been cut in two and a win for the con party has destroy it as well, all as I wanted, as the people realize all this to their horror, change in politic will come as people drive for control of parliament and their country as they see the door on their life closing and panic will take hold, that how big changes come and this one will be no different to the ones in the past.
June 23, 2016
The vote seems to be so close that Scotland could swing it to Remain. The pro-Union Leavers will have some questions to answer then.
June 23, 2016
Let it be so.
Sooner, or later, it will be.
June 23, 2016
I am with you all the way
I cannot understand how decent people educated with liberal values, believing in democracy, can vote Remain in such large numbers
I have argued with many of my students and my brother, Guardian readers all …
I have argued with my Libdem councillor ‘I though you guys believed in local democracy …’
Here is hoping
But I wonder what you think will happen is there is a narrow Remain vote?
Will UKIP pack up its tents and creep away?
All its voters go back to their old parties?
Will the Tory Party heal its divisions?
Or will there be turbulent times ahead?
June 23, 2016
All the fuss and bother about Brexit largely ignores its non-binding status â parliament, not voters deciding if Britain stays or leaves the EU, the latter extremely unlikely.
Writing in the Financial Times, British lawyer David Allen Green explained Brexit voting is âadvisory,â not âmandatory.â Parliament has final say. MPs can legally disregard the publicâs will either way, they alone empowered to decide the path Britain chooses.
June 23, 2016
I have been buoyed up and sustained by your logical common sense .
Not only in the last four months but in the years leading up to this referendum.
Many ,many thanks .
I was lied to by Ted Heath in 1975 , about no loss of sovereignty – this is just a market arrangement ….
Who then had the cheek to say shortly before he passed on ‘ it was all there in the Treaty of Rome if you cared to read it ‘.
Then lied to again by every prime minister since with the exception of MT .
So on to this dreadful Remain Campaign where the Treasury and Bank of England have been politicized along with countless other agencies by a corrupted Prime Minister and Chancellor .
Remain or leave there must surely be a realignment of voters and parties into
the neo liberals / Remain / Lie /metro BBC lot
and
the Democrat /Leave / UKIP/ truthful majority.
I have changed my membership of the Conservative Party from a generous standing order to the minimum ie Service Member status to retain my vote to get rid of Cameron and Osborne at the first opportunity .
I will certainly not vote Conservative again ,so long as Cameron /Osborne are in post and my current MP candidate is a supporter of theirs .
June 23, 2016
Free to be unemployed poor insecure and homeless . Freedom , what an odd word it is, it was not until 1928 that everyone over 21 got the vote . Most of them spent the next few years free to live in terror and poverty before being free to go and get shot by the Nazis . Things were little better in the 50s but since that time in wayward and haphazard steps security prosperity and real freedom have increased.
Today as an ordinary UK citizen I live in peace , I am well fed and enjoy with personal freedom of a kind only the few once enjoyed .
Freedom has little to do with votes , the French specialised in plebiscites throughout the 19th century , usually at the behest of a dictator whilst our suffrage was wisely and gradually expanded . Who was the free-er , we were of course ?
As far as the EU is concerned it governs by consent only .The second best organisation of European affairs was probably the Hapsburg Empire so it is clearly a magnificent achievement
June 23, 2016
I don’t agree with your position on Brexit, but I have to admit that you made me think very hard about many things in relation to the EU. If the right wing of your party calls for a no confidence vote on Cameron and wins, I hope you stand for the leadership again.
My prediction? Remain will win decisively, by a bigger margin than many think – maybe 60/40. Posted at 19:41 hrs from the Home Counties.
June 23, 2016
Many thanks for all you have done for us.
June 23, 2016
I had to walk to the City as tube was out but there were several Remain campaigners on the journey.
I went to the polling station passing yet another Remain t shirted campaigner.
I got home only to pick up 4 junk Remain leaflets and letters!
Then a knock on the door. Yes a Remain campaigner to givvey up remain voters to vote I assume.
What the heck. If they win then it will just be a case of “told you so” over the coming years.
June 23, 2016
And all that activity when for the last 40+ years the EU has not put one flyer or one broadcast or anything. Not one knock on the door to say this is what we do can we have your support.
June 23, 2016
Agence France-Presse states President Erdogan of Turkey just yesterday announced he is considering a Brexit-style referendum in Turkey on EU accession. His timing is a mystery to all..well a mystery to all in the Remain Camp
June 23, 2016
Today is the day. We will find out what future course these islands will take. I’ll be back in the morning.
June 24, 2016
This is a very GREAT DAY for England & the U.K.! I am so very thrilled for you all…although I have been very hard on you, Mr. Redwood, I salute the CAST IRON fact that the name John Redwood is eternally tied to English SOVEREIGNTY! God Bless you & England, & Wales! God save the U.K.!