No Brexit regret for this Leave voter, it was always about democracy - Bill Carmichael

Well, here’s one Leave voter who has absolutely no regrets whatsoever. Like 17.4 million other people I voted to leave in 2016 because it was the right thing to do, and if there was another referendum tomorrow I’d cast my vote the same way.

Has it been a smooth ride since we left? Of course not, quite the opposite. We had to deal with an unprecedented pandemic that led to severe economic damage, followed by a major war in Europe that led to rocketing energy prices and soaring inflation.

Indeed, those two events, the Covid outbreak and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were far more significant economically and politically than the relatively unimportant decision to leave the protectionist cartel that is the EU.

And the economic picture is far less gloomy than many doomsters would have you believe.

Both exports to and imports from the EU suffered an initial dip after the UK left, but once teething problems had been dealt with, both bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.

The energy price hike has pushed up inflation to reach double figures in the UK, but it is still lower than in most EU countries.

Unemployment in the UK is at an all time low, foreign investment is higher than any EU country, and we were the fastest growing economy in the G7 in 2021 and 2022.

And since leaving the EU, the UK has been free to sign trade deals with more than 70 countries around the world.

And let’s not forget that none of the bloodcurdling predictions of Project Fear came true. The Treasury predicted an immediate recession, half a million jobs lost, a run on the pound and a house price crash. Didn’t happen.

Neither did any of the more ridiculous forecasts of life outside the EU. We were told that planes would be unable to land or take off in the UK; that we would be banned from taking holidays in Europe; that diabetics would drop dead in the street for the lack of insulin; that there would be shortages of cheese and yoghurt, and there would be an outbreak of super-gonorrhea that would be resistant to antibiotics.

My absolute favourite though was a report, from the BBC no less, that if we left the EU we would not be able to eat sandwiches any longer.

And there have been other benefits of the UK regaining our independence. For example, this country has been in the forefront of helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.

In contrast, the EU, and Germany in particular, has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the decent thing.

And don’t forget the brilliant rollout of the Covid vaccine in the UK that undoubtedly saved countless lives, and contrast that with the bureaucratic shambles that characterised the EU’s sluggish response.

Incidentally, the EU’s vindictive and childish threat to block vaccine exports to the UK, in an attempt to deflect from its own gross incompetence, made me more glad than ever that we were shot of the whole corrupt, rotten racket. But despite the clear benefits of being a free and independent nation once again, the plotting and scheming by embittered Remainers continues.

When the Leave side lost the 1975 Referendum we took it on the chin and got on with our lives. In contrast, since 2016 the Remain side have spent more than seven years whining like a spoilt toddler denied a lollipop. You lost - get over it!

I am relaxed about those opinion polls. I don’t see any prospect of the UK rejoining the EU. Even Labour’s Remainer-in-Chief, Sir Keir Starmer, is terrified of mentioning the idea lest he alienates the Red Wall voters he needs to win the next election.

My decision to vote Leave was based on a simple but fundamental democratic principle: That those who make laws we have to obey, and impose taxes we have to pay, should be chosen by us, the people. And, crucially, if we don’t like how they are performing we can get rid of them. The undemocratic and unaccountable EU breaches this principle, and membership is incompatible with being a free and independent nation.