In the EU, decisions are made by three key bodies; the European Commission (which is unelected), the Council of Ministers (where the UK is outvoted) and the European Parliament. This system is deliberately designed to concentrate power into the hands of a small number of unelected people and undermines democratic government.

The UK has so few votes that we can’t block EU laws. We can only rely on having 8 per cent of votes in the Council of Ministers and have less than 10 per cent of the votes in the European Parliament. Politicians have surrendered the UK’s power to veto laws we disagree with , so if the EU decides to introduce a law that will be bad for Britain there is nothing we can do to stop it.

By contrast, the nineteen Eurozone countries have an in-built majority in these key bodies. It now doesn’t matter which way the UK votes, the Eurozone countries will decide which laws the UK has to introduce. Studies have shown that since 1993, over half of the new laws introduced in the UK now come from the EU (as Nick Clegg has admitted). This number is set to increase over the next few years.

Because EU law is supreme over UK law we cannot scrap any of these new rules. Britain has lost control of many things that are fundamental to what Abraham Lincoln called ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’ - our economy, trade, migration, human rights, and even the rules on things like the building of schools and hospitals (which add billions to taxpayer bills). EU judges have already overruled UK laws on issues like counter-terrorism powers, migration, VAT, and whether prisoners should be allowed to vote.

• The European Court controls our ability to deport violent criminals or terrorists.
• The European Court controls our ability to require migrants to have proper identification issued by our Government.
• The European Court increasingly controls how our intelligence services combat terrorism.
• The European Court now controls how we implement the vital 1951 Convention on refugees.

This loss of control is deeply damaging and undemocratic. Elections should be about the public choosing who makes the laws. Instead, all our politicians have to do what the EU says - not what we say.

The European Commission is now planning the next EU Treaty to fix the euro’s problems. Every Treaty since the 1950s has given Brussels more power. The official plan involves another huge transfer of powers to Brussels including over taxes. Our politicians will give in as usual. We have repeatedly given away control in the hope of ‘influence’. The loss of control was real. The hoped for influence was a mirage.