THE KEY political question of our time is not whether or not you voted Brexit or Remain but whether or not you are a democrat. For this reason, and this reason alone, I am standing in the forthcoming European parliamentary election for the Brexit Party. If democratic decisions can be ignored or overturned, ‘British democracy’ will have become little more than a rhetorical device used by our politicians, a hat tipped to the masses while the real business of government is carried on behind our backs.

Historically, the strongest defenders of democracy have been radicals and those on the left. During the English Civil War, the leveller John Lilburne argued that, "It is unnatural, irrational and sinful for any man whatever to assume a power of authority and jurisdiction to rule, govern or reign over any sort of men in the world without their free consent." From this point on radicals and those fighting for equality and the rights of the oppressed have understood that democracy is essential for human progress. It is a mechanism for the majority, rather than a self-interested elite, to choose how their communities and their countries are governed. Democracy takes the basic freedom of the individual and situates it within a community and a country which allows us to be self-determining; it demands our involvement in decision-making and allows us all to hold to account those in political office. This power is not theirs, but ours. We decide.

Leading socialists like Tony Benn recognised clearly how the bureaucratic nature of the EU was a threat to democracy. Noting the retreat of the left and their growing dependence on the EU for defending workers’ rights, Benn observed that, "Some people genuinely believe that we shall never get social justice from the British government but we shall get it from Jacques Delores [the then President of the EU]; they believe that a good king is better than a bad parliament. I have never taken that view." Jeremy Corbyn, before his ascent to the Labour Party leadership, once shared this view of EU leaders as acting like kings.

Similarly, in his critique of the European Union, the left wing historian Eric Hobsbawm explained how it was, "Misleading to speak of the democratic deficit of the EU. The EU was explicitly constructed on a non-democratic (ie non electoral) basis and few would seriously argue that it would have got where it is otherwise."

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In Chris Bickerton’s insightful book The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide, he reveals clearly the ultra-clandestine nature of EU decision making: the Byzantine committee structures, the domination of legislative discussions by the unelected Commission, and the leaders’ summits carried out in secret, away from the public gaze – a process described by historian Perry Anderson as something akin to, "concerting the open agenda of parliaments into the closed world of chancellories."

Over a generation, our ideologically-lite political class has grown increasingly distant from the electorate and progressively reliant upon technocratic and legalistic mechanisms for connecting to political issues. They have become accustomed to consulting with ‘cosmopolitan’ elites like themselves, both inside and outside the EU, rather than talking to and representing the people. Politicians are far more comfortable acting as advocates for "vulnerable groups" and those who "have no voice" than engaging with citizens who act for themselves and make themselves heard. This helps to explain the, at times, hysterical reaction to the Brexit vote.

It’s not that they’re feigning horror. The political elite’s distance from the electorate and their insecure authority means that they genuinely fear the public and assume many of us really are "gammon" faced bigots ready to drag the nation back to the horrors of the past.

There is a cheap SNP line in Scotland that brands Brexit as a Tory Brexit. Lest we forget, almost every world leader and every global institution told us to vote remain. As did all the major political parties, David Cameron, Theresa May, the majority of Tory MPs and most government ministers. Remain was an elite project that aimed to limit the role of the people in democratic decision-making. It still is.

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The Brexit vote shocked the political elite and has exposed its anti-democratic inclinations. Labour MP David Lammy protests "Bring this madness to an end"; a leading left-leaning newspaper brings out a T-shirt with the slogan, "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers." As a result, overtly, covertly and sometimes through a lack of will we find ourselves in a situation where a clear democratic decision is being thwarted by most of the political class.

In Scotland we find Nicola Sturgeon standing with fellow anti-democrats, the likes of Tony Blair, Vince Cable and Kenneth Clark, in undermining the Brexit vote. The idea that because a majority of Scots voted to remain means that leaving the EU goes against the will of the people is a form of Orwellian Newspeak. The Scottish people democratically voted in 2014 to remain in the UK. When the people of Britain subsequently decided to leave the EU this was also a democratic decision and needs to be recognised and accepted as much in Scotland as it does in any other part of the country. To reject the vote is quite simply a rejection of democracy itself, a dismissal not only of the will of the British people but also of the Scottish electorate who voted to remain within the UK.

This anti-democratic core is reflected in the SNP’s call for independence – a project that if successful would tie Scotland to the British crown and would turn Scotland into a vassal state of the EU. Sturgeon’s vision for Scotland is one of dependence not independence: a safe space where the Scottish elites can avoid the true responsibility and accountability necessary for a thriving democracy.

In both Scotland and the UK, our political class fear democracy, they fear the public having a genuine say over how their country is run. In the coming European election it is our responsibility as citizens to ensure that once again they lose and that democracy wins.