Why Britain must leave a centralising EU

London

FOR the British, the European Union has always been at best an awkward fit. The UK has long-established and stable institutions, an admirable representative democracy, and a history and geography which give us a different cultural outlook from many on the Continent.

The EU's ambitions to become a state in its own right undermine the sovereignty and sense of identity that UK citizens share. Even those who deny the EU has such an ambition cannot deny the direction in which it is heading. Each of the long succession of problems thrown up by the EU's evolution tends to lead to a "solution" involving further integration. The latest examples are the migration crisis and calls for a common external border force.