On May 31st this year, we remembered the biggest naval engagement of the First World War: the battle of Jutland.
6,000 British naval personnel died. 6,000 families lost loved ones. 6,000 souls would never again live to see what they were fighting for: a free, democratic and independent Britain.
Sailors from Royal and German Navy stood side by side on the flight deck of #HMSDuncan to remember #Jutland100.https://t.co/Rzk3I1xLaO
— Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) June 2, 2016
Jutland didn’t end the war, nor did it stop the desire of imperious men and women to forge a united European nation, where the few grandees would control millions by a system where national democracies had little or no power.
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When Nazi Germany wanted to subjugate national democracy, millions stood up against them. People like my grandfather, who without hesitation took up the call to to fight for a free democratic and independent Britain in the deserts of Africa.
People like Fergus Anckorn, the 97-year-old Second World War veteran who used magic to entertain his fellow prisoners of his Japanese captors and who inspired this year’s winner of Britain’s Got Talent, fellow serviceman Richard Jones.
As Ronald Reagan said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction – we don’t pass it onto our children in the bloodstream. It needs to be fought for, protected and handed onto them for them to do the same.”
I am as conscious of this today as when I first had the fires of democracy stirred inside of me as a teenager.
While I couldn’t study at home, I did so in Manchester library. There I passed the commemoration of the Peterloo massacre. 15 people were killed, hundreds injured by our own soldiers simply for asking for the vote and a fair representation in parliament.
To me it was clear the elites will do whatever it takes, including murdering their own, to keep democratic power and influence out of the hands of the people.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction" -Ronald Reagan. Thank you to those who gave their lives for freedom.
— Heritage Action (@Heritage_Action) May 30, 2016
In Britain they have done so many times. In 1831, 24 were killed by our soldiers in Merthyr Tydfil for asking for the vote. The suffragettes were beaten by our own police outside parliament for asking for the vote. In fact, the fight for freedom in this country can be dated back to the Levellers, and the Chartists.
The reality is that the fight for freedom is never-ending – and that’s partly why I gave up my job to become a politician. We are all beacon carriers of our freedom and responsible for the next generation’s freedom and democracy.
From the Levellers and Chartists through to Fergus Anckorn, they all stood up because they believed every man and women had the right to freedom, democracy and a fair judicial system.
These fundamental rights, that thousands of men and women have won over centuries – parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, habeas corpus and the right to know your accuser – are the backbone of what our nation stands for.
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Britain has always led the way in this respect, and for that we are all guilty of taking these rights for granted.
Just because we have them now, does not mean we will have them forever. The EU doesn’t have our history. It doesn’t understand our democracy or our reasons for championing parliamentary sovereignty.
It is undermining and eroding our freedom and democracy bit by bit.
Its institutions assert control and unaccountable power over our own democratic elected parliament.
The European Court of Human Rights has the power to override decisions made by UK courts. The European Arrest Warrant undermines our judicial foundations of the rule of law.
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The free movement of people across Europe undermines our government’s ability to control our borders and set its own immigration policy.
From regulating household items such as the power of our hoovers to the food we eat, we cannot escape EU regulation. Many would argue that these are good things, and that’s fine.
Last week in a BBC debate, Alex Salmond was proudly talking about lower mobile roaming charges in Europe because of the EU, as if that is the number one aspiration of mankind.
Are lower mobile charges really a price worth paying for pooling our sovereignty and degrading our democracy? Absolutely not.
This debate is not about all of the various regulations and laws that come from Brussels. The discussion should not be about whether they’re good or not, but about the way the laws are made within the EU system.
As a member of the European Parliament I have been elected by the people of North West England to represent them.
Yet I have no power at all to initiate legislation, unlike my local MP in Westminster.
Ironically, the legislature has no power to legislate. The unchecked, unaccountable, power lies in the hands of the European Commission. The Commission is unelected, yet it is the executive branch of the EU.
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As time goes on, we face new and different challenges. Don’t be fooled that the only way we can tackle these is by giving away more of our freedom and democracy.
We cannot put a price on our freedom. If we didn’t live in a free, democratic and just system, we would not have made big strides over the past 100 years on pensions, the NHS and other social reforms.
Democracy breeds reform, innovation and ultimately gives us the power to change things for the better.
If those in the remain campaign think that lower mobile charges are a price worth paying for surrendering our freedom and democracy, then they should admit they want to live in a federal Europe.
Let’s be clear about this: a federal Europe or a United States of Europe – as many want – is simply not compatible with nation-state democracy. It’s one or the other.
The author Tertullian sums this up best: “You cannot parcel out freedom in pieces, because freedom is all or nothing.”
In the memory of the millions who have died for freedom and democracy over hundreds of years, let’s make it absolutely clear. We shall never surrender those freedoms our ancestors fought for.
So let’s start fighting by voting to leave the EU on June 23rd.
