Supporters


SUPPORTERS
ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT
PEERS ~ MPs ~ PROSPECTIVE PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES ~ MEPs ~ MLAs ~ COUNCILLORS ~ ACADEMICS ~ ARMED FORCES ~ BUSINESS PEOPLE ~ WRITERS AND BROADCASTERS ~ MISCELLANEOUS

PEERS:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Lord Stoddart of Swindon	"The European Union already controls some 60% of Britain’s decision making but the more power they have the more they want. The Commission President is calling for the EU to be a world player in foreign policy and wants a pooling of national diplomatic resources. He also wants the power of the national veto to be further eroded and, already, in justice and police matters progress towards harmonisation is ongoing and the veto in this area is likely to be dropped. At the same time there is a clamour to resuscitate the European Constitution or to bypass it and implement its decisions by stealth and elements of the European Parliament are opposing any measures that would give national parliaments a greater say over EU policy. Virtually every serious review of the costs and benefits of the EU show that Britain would be better off out of the organisation in most, if not all, respects but political elite in all political parties will simply not listen to the facts. Those who believe that the European Union can be reformed from within are deluding themselves. Its very nature demands that, ever more power must be conceded to the EU institutions and, consequently, that of the nations be reduced. Britain would certainly be BETTER OFF OUT and the longer our country remains in, the more certain it is that we shall simply become a mere province in a "country called Europe"."
Independent Labour Peer.
The Rt. Hon. Lord Tebbit of Chingford CH	"From being a supporter of British membership of the Common Market in 1970 I have come to believe that the United Kingdom would be Better Off Out of the developing European Republic of the 21st century. We British have a thousand year history of self-government. We have been free and democratic longer than any other nation. The European Union is too diverse, too bureaucratic, too corporatist and too centralist to be a functioning democracy. We are happy to trade with our European friends and the rest of the world - but we would prefer to govern ourselves."
Conservative Peer. Patron of BETTER OFF OUT.
The late Rt. Hon. Lord Weatherill DL	"As a former Speaker of the House of Commons I view with increasing alarm and concern the loss of Parliamentary Sovereignty which for centuries has underpinned the freedoms of the British people. Directives and diktats from the European Union which have the force of law – often without parliamentary scrutiny or debate – are steadily eroding our nation’s independence and the electorate is increasingly unaware of what is done in their name. The time has come to call a halt. We would unquestionably be Better Off Out!"
Crossbench Peer. Founding Patron of BETTER OFF OUT.
Lord Willoughby de Broke DL	"You have my admiration and support for this great cross-party initiative: pygmy political parties don't matter - the future of our country does."
UK Independence Party Peer.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Peter Bone	"Whether it's the one hundred billion pounds that British tax payers have paid the EU since Labour came to power, the flood of hundreds of thousands of legal EU migrants into our country or the loss of British sovereignty, we will be better off out of this bureaucratic, unaccountable and corrupt dictatorship they call the European Union."
Conservative Member of Parliament for Wellingborough.
Douglas Carswell	"I believe in an independent Britain - Britain would be Better Off Out of the failing European Union. It's time to campaign for an independent Britain."
Conservative Member of Parliament for Harwich.
Philip Davies	"Our country built our prosperity as world traders. Our future prosperity depends on us trading with China, India, the rest of the Commonwealth and across the globe. It does not depend on being tied up in a backward-looking, inward-facing, protection racket designed to prop up inefficient continental farmers and businesses. We want free trade with the EU, but we do not need to be members of it to have that."
Conservative Member of Parliament for Shipley.
Jeffrey Donaldson	"I support the Better Off Out Campaign because I believe that the European Union is fast moving towards Federalism and the creation of a European Superstate. This will result in a further loss of British sovereignty, which will herald the end of our parliamentary democracy and curtail many of our hard won freedoms."
Democratic Unionist Party Member of Parliament for Langan Valley.
Philip Hollobone	"Millions of British people have never had the chance to vote on whether or not to be in the EU. In 2006, you have to be at least 49 years of age to have taken part in the last UK referendum on Europe."
Conservative MP for Kettering.
Austin Mitchell	"We would be better off freed from the exactions, excessive contributions, toils, red tape and regulations of the European Union."
Labour Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby.
Bob Spink	"I have long been sceptical about the EU, but took the view we should try to reform from within. I now see this is not possible. I have therefore decided to support our withdrawal. This is the only way we can defend our sovereignty and democracy, get a better financial deal for our country and offer better help to developing nations. I announced this policy change and have received only support from constituents and indeed from across the country."
UK Independence Party Member of Parliament for Castle Point.
Ann Winterton	"Although no Parliament at Westminster can bind its successor, the European Union operates differently and has no reverse gear. The United Kingdom is propelled into ever deeper integration against the wishes of its people. Leaving is the only way to stop this process."
Conservative Member of Parliament for Congleton.
Sir Nicholas Winterton	"The European Union no longer allows the Government or Parliament of the United Kingdom to take decisions or implement policies in the interests of the UK and its people. Our identity, culture and way of life are being irreparably damaged as a result of decisions being taken by a remote, bureaucratic and unelected Commission in Brussels whose accounts have not been audited for 11 years. We must have the courage to say enough is enough and we're better off out."
Conservative Member of Parliament for Macclesfield.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

PROSPECTIVE PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Gordon Henderson	The European Union was founded with the best of intentions. Those who had been through the Second World War, and witnessed the appalling affects of the First World War, vowed that the major European nations would never again be involved in a bloody war. They saw a united Europe as a buffer to extremism. And that is the dream that so many supporters of the EU still have. They want a United Europe; a Federal Europe; a United States of Europe. Call it what you like, that is their ambition. Unfortunately, these advocates of closer European integration fail to recognise that the world has moved on. We are in a global economy where the interests of individual sovereign states can be better served in a wider, more flexible world market, rather than being constrained by the rigid, and inflexible bureaucracy that is required to ensure a level playing field for an ever increasing number of countries in the EU. Britain has always excelled as a trading nation. We are a nation of traders and we will prosper, or die, as a nation depending upon the level of our future trading success. Britain is part of Europe, that is a fact of geography, but we have a proud history of governing ourselves. That self governance is at the root of our trading success. The truth is that we have given too many powers away to an institution whose priority, quite rightly, is to look after the interests of all its members. It is time to bring some of those powers back. We should let the British public decide the future direction of our country. The only way of doing that is in a referendum with one simple question. Do you wish to remain a member of the European Union? Whichever side of the EU argument you sit, surely nobody could complain about the use of the ultimate tool of democracy?
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Jim Allister QC	"Only those who relish needless bureaucracy, support the waste of a £5 billion annual subsidy to Brussels, delight in surrendering key national powers to the unelected and think we should be unable to control our own vital trade policy, could possibly think EU membership is good for the UK. Of course, we'd be better off out."
Independent MEP for Northern Ireland.
Gerard Batten	"I have no hesitation in signing up to the Better Off Out Campaign! As a Member of the European Parliament for UKIP, my belief that Britain should leave the EU is, I trust, self-evident. I became actively involved in politics in 1992 when I joined the Anti-Federalist League (later to become the UK Independence Party), precisely on the basis that Britain should leave the European Union and re-establish herself as a self-governing, independent nation. I urge every United Kingdom Local Councillor, MP and MEP who believes that Britain should be a free country to sign-up to the Better Off Out Campaign."
UK Independence Party MEP for London.
Nigel Farage	"The BETTER OFF OUT campaign has redefined euroscepticism in Britain. Anybody not signed up to BETTER OFF OUT should not call themselves eurosceptics."
UK Independence Party MEP for the South East. UK Independence Party Leader.
Daniel Hannan Dan's Telegraph blog	"The EU is making us poorer, less democratic and less free. I don't see withdrawal as an end in itself, but as a means to an end - that end being a Britain which respects the principles of limited government and individual liberty. I don't want to take powers back from the EU only to let them fester in Whitehall; I want to pass them down to local communities and to private citizens. I want decisions to be taken as closely as possible to the people they affect. I want decision-makers to be answerable through the ballot box. None of these things is possible as long as our laws are handed down by Brussels functionaries."
Conservative MEP for the South East.
Roger Helmer	"After nearly seven years in the European Parliament, I have now reached the firm view that Britain would be better off out of the EU. There is simply no benefit of membership, at all, that could not be achieved through a normal treaty between independent nations, without having to out-source our governance to Brussels. The EU damages our prosperity, undermines our democracy, and increasingly threatens our national security."
Conservative MEP for the East Midlands.
Roger Knapman	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
UK Independence Party MEP for the South West.
Mike Nattrass FRICS	"Certain MPs say they are Eurosceptic yet this lie is just a vote catching golden egg, only dusted off and brought out at elections. Leaving the EU is not in their real agenda and they refuse to sign BOO. I know what they say about "If it walks like a duck" but it just shows you what happens when you say BOO to a Goose."
UK Independence Party MEP for the West Midlands.
Dr. John Whittaker	"I am pleased to sign up to the Better Off Out campaign."
UK Independence Party MEP for the North West. UK Independence Party Chairman.
Tom Wise	"The British people have suffered lies and deceit from politicians in Westminster for over 30 years. We were never asked if we wanted to join an artificial political construct whose aims and ambitions run contrary to British interests. There has never been a better time to leave."
UK Independence Party MEP for Eastern England.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

MEMBERS OF THE LONDON ASSEMBLY:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Damian Hockney	"The BETTER OFF OUT campaign is a splendid initiative, which the One London Party backs 100%. It is a fantastic opportunity to unite support from across the political spectrum to capitalise on the growing momentum for EU withdrawal. Our case is overwhelming but the movement has previously lacked coherent focus and high profile support. Highlighting growing support in Parliament and other elected bodies and amongst opinion formers is an essential step to boost public confidence in the credibility of our cause. Keep up the good work!"
London Assembly Member. One London Party Leader.
Peter Hulme-Cross	"The One London Party is using the platform of the London Assembly to highlight the ways in which the EU intrudes into our lives. Trade, transport, waste, water and the environment are increasingly controlled by the EU. National and London government is often simply the mechanism through which EU directives are imposed, but most politicians seem content to remain silent. We constantly use the London Assembly to draw public and media attention to the democratic deficit - a source of constant embarrassment to the pro-EU politicians."
London Assembly Member. One London Party.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

COUNCILLORS:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Councillor Stephen Allison	"Better off out without a doubt!"
UK Independence Party Councillor, Hartlepool Borough Council.
Councillor Gavin Ayling	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Conservative Councillor, Adur District Council.
Councillor Phil Briscoe	"For far too long, politicians in this country have avoided the subject of our continued membership of the EU. It is time we had a proper debate, analysed any benefits from being a member, and understood the costs we face, both to our pockets and to our liberty. When we have that proper debate, many people will agree that we will be Better Off Out!"
Conservative Councillor, London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Councillor Anne Cheale	"I support withdrawal from the EU."
Conservative Party Councillor, Thurrock Council.
Councillor Humphrey Clemens	"I am sure most British people support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign. It's time we were offered a National referendum on it."
Conservative Party Councillor, Teignbridge District Council.
Councillor Neil Connelly	"There are better ways to spend the vast amounts of money wasted upon the EU (schools, hospitals more policing). It is time to tell them where to stick their two parliaments because we could use the money in a far more constructive manor. It is also time to tell them where to stick their laws as we were getting along just fine without them."
Conservative Party Councillor, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Councillor Matt Davis	"The EU has become an anti democratic monolith that is run in the best interests of its ruling technocrats and not the peoples of Europe, it will only become ever more oppressive and ever more distant from us, its reluctant citizens."
Conservative Party Councillor, Waltham Forest Council.
Councillor Allan Ewart	"The Westminster Parliament has lost its identity. Decisions which are having an impact on our daily lives are now being taken by elected members across Europe, taking control of many of our affairs out of the hands of our elected MPs."
Democratic Unionist Party Councillor, Lisburn City Council.
Councillor Andy Fear	"Of course we'd be better off out and the sooner the better!"
Conservative Councillor, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.
Andy Fitton	"As a member of the UK Independence Party and a Parish Councillor, you can count me in. I find it bizarre that other European countries have National Service, transport systems that work for the benefit of all, healthcare that actually cares, a sensible approach to responsibility and family - and yet despite being mixed up with all this for years all we seem to get is repressive legislation and backdoor attempts to break up the United Kingdom. I actually don't care where I am governed from as long as it is democratic, transparent, representative and accountable. The European Union fails on all of these by a country mile."
UK Independence Party Councillor, Rolleston-on-Dove Parish Council.
Councillor Ron Forrest	"We have been taken for a ride for far too long. The EU is a corrupt and undemocratic organisation that seeks to deprive us of our independence as a nation. It is beyond reform and the only course for us is to quit."
Conservative Councillor, Somerset County Council and Mendip District Council
Councillor Paul V. Greenall BSc(Hons) MSc	"Politicians of both parties have repeatedly told us over the years that membership of the EEC/EC/EU would not involve a loss of sovereignty or the creation of a super-state and consequently, referendums were not required to ratify European Treaties. Were they naive or telling us lies, because now we are 'citizens' of a European institution that has its own flag, national anthem, parliament, laws, currency and civil service. It also wants a constitution, a common foreign and defence policy, plus Ministers and a President. And it appears that most of our domestic laws originate from the EU. I believe it was William Hague MP, who famously said in a debate about whether the EU is a super-state "if it walks like a Duck, quacks like a Duck and waddles like a Duck, then it's a Duck". I agree with him and I want my country back. Moreover, I challenge all Euro-sceptics out there to come out of the shadows of anonymity and support this campaign!"
Conservative Councillor, West Lancashire District Council
Councillor Clive Hallam-Baker	"Our membership of the EU has resulted in a loss of freedom, loss of sovereignty, loss of independence, loss of identity, loss of our Parliamentary system, loss of national wealth, loss of control of our borders, loss of our way of life and the loss of the right to make our own laws to suit our society. I can see nothing positive to balance these losses. The simple truth is - we would be better off out."
Conservative Councillor- Northumberland County Council.
Councillor Donald Hoyle	"We have to leave the EU. That's all there is to it."
Conservative Councillor, Milton Keynes Council.
Councillor John Hudson	"Count me as a supporter."
Chairman - Glenfield Branch, Charnwood Conservative Association. Deputy Leader - Blaby District Council.
Councillor Mark Hudson	"There is no greater responsibility for a Government than to do so in the name of the people who elected it. Membership of the EU no longer means that the people of Britain can control their own national destiny. I am now firmly of the opinion that it in the best political, economic and social interests of the United Kingdom to leave the EU at the earliest opportunity."
Councillor, Sevenoaks Town Council and former Chairman, Sevenoaks Conservative Association.
Councillor Ian Proud	"I fully support this campaign. Get out of the EU before its to late. Let's put the Great back into Britain. I would urge all fellow councillors to sign up to this BETTER OUT CAMPAIGN and do what the people on the doorsteps say - give them back GREAT and FREE of EU BRITAIN."
Labour Councillor, Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council (formerly a Liberal Democrat Executive member on Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council).
Councillor Keith Standring	"First there was just one MP calling for the UK's withdrawal from the EU - now (Jan 2007) there are no fewer than thirteen MPs and ten MEPs. By any measure that is progress and I am confident that number will grow. We are moving closer to the time when UK sovereignty can be restored from the clutches of the EU."
Conservative Councillor, Rother District Council.
Councillor Luke Stubbs	"As a country that has contributed more to the world than just about any other, we should have the self-confidence to go it alone. An independent Britain would be freer, prouder and economically stronger. We'd be better off out."
Conservative Councillor, Portsmouth City Council.
Councillor Robert-John Tasker	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Conservative Councillor, Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.
Councillor Derek Tipp	"I fully support this campaign. It is right to co-operate with other nations when it is in our joint interests, but we should not have to accept a never-ending barrage of damaging laws with no effective means of preventing them. After thirty years we need to realise reform is not an option."
Conservative Councillor, New Forest District Council. Former Chairman, New Forest East Conservative Association, currently Deputy Chairman.
Councillor Alan S. Wood C.Eng. M.Sc. M.I.Mech.E.	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
UK Independence Party Councillor, Kennet District Council.
Councillor Judith Wallace	"The EU is bad for Britain in both economic and democratic terms, and its trade policies are disastrous for the poor of the Third World."
Conservative Councillor, North Tyneside Council.
Councillor David Weeks	"The money saved by getting out of the EU would enable the pensioners to receive a fair pension, the sick adequate treatment, extra funding to fight crime. The money saved would make a real difference to people's lives."
Independent Councillor, West Devon Borough Council.
Councillor Tony Woodcock	"We must return to these islands the self-government so supinely surrendered by successive Governments. At last the people's fight back begins."
Conservative Councillor and Cabinet Member, Poole Borough Council.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

ACADEMICS:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Professor Antony Flew	"If the leader of any British political party wants to win the next election in a landslide, he has only to promise, if elected, to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union and to make the specific and very substantial tax cuts which would become possible once the UK stopped paying billions of British Pounds to the irreformably corrupt bureaucracy in Brussels."
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Reading University.
Dr. Bernard Lamb BSc PhD DSc FIBiol CBiol FRSM	"I support immediate withdrawal from the EU, which is becoming a totalitarian socialist monster, unfair to Britain and to third world countries. It is undemocratic, riddled with corruption, financially unaccountable, and passing endless silly laws which our stupid governments more than implements fully, unlike our cynical continental counterparts who do not bother. Do health and safety inspectors close down French or German markets for breach of some petty regulation? It is time that David Cameron and the Conservative Party came to their senses about Europe. Best wishes for the campaign."
Reader in Genetics, Imperial College, London.
Professor Patrick Minford CBE PhD	"It is in all our interests that the UK puts an end to the intolerable costs of our EU membership."
Professor of Applied Economics at Cardiff Business School.
Lord Neidpath	"The UK joined the Common Market to get inside its high tariff walls, and to hitch its faltering economy to the dynamic West European economies. Like millions of others I approved this decision in the 1975 referendum. The tariff barriers in question have since all but disappeared, the Franco-German 'motor' is now the sick man of Europe and, while we remain a member, the EU month by month appropriates to itself more of our democratic sovereignty and independence - a process unimagined by me and millions of other voters in 1975. As all the original motives for joining have ceased to apply, as our democratic sovereignty is draining away, and as the cost of remaining within the EU is colossal - probably £30-£50 billion per annum - any reasonable, democratic lover of his or her country must conclude that we are BETTER OFF OUT".

Dr. Simon T. McB. Newman	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Senior Lecturer, Postgraduate Legal Studies, University of Westminster.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

ARMED FORCES (RETIRED):
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Air Marshal Sir John Baird KBE DL MBChB FRCPE FRCSE FFOM FRAeS DAvMed	"The sovereignty of the UK is under greater threat from the EU now than it ever was from Napoleon or Hitler. At least then we, as a Nation, were united against a known enemy. The insidious nature of the EU is such that the majority of British citizens do not even recognise the threat."
Surgeon General, 1997-2000 (Retired).
Ivan Brissenden	"The problem is, a vast number of younger British voters do not understand the threat. I have been dismayed to be told by many of them that they would actively embrace a United States of Europe. They love the idea of Britain becoming one of 'the States'. How do we combat that mindset when Tony Blair & Co, with their vast spin machines, are doing everything they can to bring about a US of E by stealth?"

Philip Greig	"I came to the conclusion that we are no longer a self-governing country when I found out that unelected Commissioners in Brussels over-ruled our objections to GM food and also when the regional assemblies were being foisted on us without my vote. So I joined UKIP and the Freedom Association. BETTER OF OUT, Open Europe, Campaign for an Independent Britain, Speakout.co.uk, and the Democracy Movement/Charter 88 are all battling away to leave the EU but our main political parties do not take a blind bit of notice. We must keep on battling. Where we have gone wrong is to take any notice of the diktats from Brussels. The other countries only obey them when it is in their interest. Perhaps BETTER OFF IGNORING THE EU would be more pragmatic."
Lt Cdr RN retd.
Flt Lt Mike Hall RAF (retd)	"This Realm faces a far greater threat now than it did in 1939. At that time the battle lines were clearly drawn and we faced the threat alongside many others who had no reason to risk their all in our battle to maintain Freedom other than the will so to do. Now the front line does not exist. The Enemy is within! I have said this before in public and I will state it again here. High Treason Stalks the Lofty Halls of Power and has done so for over three decades! We are Better Off Out of this unaccountable, corrupt Leviathan across the English Channel. In the words of Captain Piccard of the Enterprise. MAKE IT SO!"
Former RAF pilot.
LtCdr(E)(Dr)Hugh W. Jones RNR (ret'd) VRD	"We desperately need to plan, set and operate the British Independent Referendum as soon as possible. It is nearly too late already. It is up to us individually to get organised."

Vice-Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly KBE CB DL	"Parliament, being Sovereign, cannot yield its sovereignty. But it can and does, shamefully, approve derogations to its own Acts in order to conform with the Laws of the European Union. A Union to which unadvisedly, if not traitorously, Britain has been tied. The critical moment has now been reached. For all practical purposes Parliament will accept all European laws. So European Law will become 'The Law of the Land'. And Britain, as a separate Country will cease to exist, lose the freedoms won through the ages and become a region of the European Union."
Vice-Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, 1972-1975.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

BUSINESS PEOPLE:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Richard Patient	"The EU is an unelected undemocratic bureaucracy that pushes through the majority of our laws in this country. People who like the EU like its ideal, but the ideal is not what it is in practice. And I think we've been trying to change it to that ideal for 30 years without any remote success."
Managing Director, Indigo Public Affairs

WRITERS AND BROADCASTERS:
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIST ARE HIGHLIGHTED
Peter Bates	"The very first vote I cast at the age of 18 was in the Common Market Referendum of 1975. Then I voted to stay in on the basis that co-operation between the countries of Europe had to be better than being at war with each other which had been the case for much of the previous 300 years. However had I realised that the ultimate intention was to abolish Britain and create a European Republic which none of the peoples of Europe actually want, I would never have voted in favour of staying. It is now obvious not only that this has been the plan all along, but there has been a steady stream of lies and deceit on behalf of politicians in Britain and elsewhere in Europe to enable us to get where we are today. As a Christian who sees a significant anti-Christian component in the underlying philosophy of the EU, I now feel grave concern for the future of our country if we stay in. This is why I am emphatically behind the BETTER OFF OUT CAMPAIGN."
Author of "You Can Believe This! - Why Biblical Christianity Makes Sense".
Jillian Becker	"The EU is undemocratic, corrupt, and blind to its hastening demographic disaster, from which we can only possibly save ourselves if we leave the EU."
Author.
David Ben-Ariel	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Author of "Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall".
Donal Blaney	"Pro-EU zealots tell us that if Britain left the EU, millions of jobs would be lost - as would our supposed influence in EU decision-making. Switzerland seems to be doing ok outside the EU. It is the Swiss model we should follow. As a member of the UN Security Council, the 5th largest economy in the world and a nation whose language is predominant in business and global communications, Britain will not only survive outside the EU - we will flourish. I am delighted to support Better Off Out."
Chief Executive, Young Britons' Foundation. Presenter, 18 Doughty Street Talk TV.
Garry Bushell	"A quick email just to pledge my support for the Better Off Out campaign. Everything about the European Union is muddle-headed and misguided. The EU is bureaucratic, over-regulated, anti-democratic and meddlesome. Britain was duped in to joining the "European project" and we have been lied to ever since. The longer we remain a member state the less chance we have of ever regaining our national sovereignty, liberty, and prosperity."
Broadcaster, journalist and campaigner.
Gary Crookes	"Whilst peddling good-will, prosperity, freedom and security, the EU has become a vehicle for ambitious politicians and is a new European empire in the making. The restrictions of freedom it has imposed, the costs and the destruction of national sovereignty mean that it is time for the UK to lead the way and withdraw from the EU."
Author.
Frederick Forsyth CBE	"For many years the British have been assured they could have a sovereign homeland and full membership of the EU. We were lied to. It is now clear we can either go all the way with Brussels to the euro-megastate, or have a self-governing Great Britain, but under no circumstances can we have both. They are now completely incompatible. Only fools and fanatics go on denying it. You must make up your mind. Which do you want?"
Author. Patron of BETTER OFF OUT.
Gerald Frost	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Author.
Dr. Graham Gould	"I have only recently come to be a firm supporter of the Better off Out campaign, having seen my views of Europe change gradually since the early 1990s. Before then I was, as a committed internationalist and a liberal (both in politics and also as a Christian believer), a keen supporter of an ideal which would see the nation state wither away to be replaced by a Europe consisting of a mosaic of regions and local communities - varied, prosperous, and free, with power devolved to the lowest possible level of accountability. Over the years I have come to see that, whatever the desirability of this goal in principle, the EU - centralist, illiberal, and unresponsive to public opinion - is not the institution to bring it about but offers in fact the worst of the alternatives on offer: a superstate with no national or democratic credentials. Meanwhile, popular feeling for the value of nation states and national awareness has become stronger rather than weaker, and any realistic view of the location of political power must take this into account."
Freelance lecturer and writer (former university lecturer).
Lindsay Jenkins	"One of the great British traditions, the last night of the Proms, includes the rousing chorus we all love to sing 'Britons never never shall be slaves'. That, ladies and gentlemen, will be our fate if we dally much longer in the European Union - a union to destroy freedom and build a euro dictatorship."
Author of the continuing Britain in Europe series: Britain Held Hostage, The Last Days of Britain and Disappearing Britain.
Dr. Lee Rotherham	"Before the last General Election, I turned my hand to an analysis of what it would take to make UK membership of the EU work. In a paper for the Bruges Group, we submitted to the Shadow Cabinet a list of the key fault lines and identifying the plausible solutions (http://www.brugesgroup.com/news.live?article=3968&keyword=16 for details). Anticipating a referendum would stall the EU Constitution, we predicted a narrow window of opportunity, and warned that failure to seize it would make leaving the EU both inevitable and desirable. Tragically, this Labour Government has squandered that precious and rarest of opportunities. Perhaps in the changing Westminster landscape an inspired political leader exists yet to reveal himself, a figure with the willpower to face up to this crucial challenge, who will resolve the problems that face the whole of the EU chain gang. But with no radical reformist in government, silence is no solution. Every compromise leads to ever-closer union. In the absence of such steel, we thankfully have the genuine alternative of unfurling our sails and launching away. If a country like Mexico or Canada can obtain the free trade and friendship agreement with the EU we ourselves sought in the 1960’s and the public thought it was getting in 1972-3, then there is no fear for a country of enterprise that will swiftly find itself lifted from the cloying marshes of continental overregulation."
Co-author of the Bumper Book of Government Waste.
Derek Turner	"European civilization and the EU are not synonyms but antonyms. All who value Europe's national and regional distinctiveness and beauty should seek to bring about the downfall of this morally, politically and fiscally corrupt behemoth, and return to an alliance of proud-self-governing nation states. Britain is not the only European country that would definitely be Better Off Out."
Editor, "Quarterly Review"
Tom Utley	"We would be much better off without the restrictions and interventions of the EU."
Daily Mail leader writer.
Tim Worstall	"As Sr. Barroso pointed out recently the original justification for the move to European integration was to stop Germany invading France. Again. As Sr. Barroso also pointed out in the same Hugo Young Memorial Speech, this is now unthinkable. Good, mission achieved so can we leave now so as to be free of the stultifying effects of excessive regulation, the absurd idiocies of CAP and the CFP and the strangulation of our trade by the quite insane beliefs in mercantilism?"
Leading blogger and proud member of the Euronihilist Community.
Amend your existing comment or description	ADD YOUR NAME - AND YOUR COMMENT

MISCELLANEOUS SUPPORTERS:
RECENT SIGNATORIES SHOWN BELOW	ARCHIVE OF SUPPORTERS
Shaun Bennett Prospective Conservative Party Candidate, Trentham and Hanford ward, Stoke-on-Trent.	"As an active Conservative party member I have come to the conclusion that we MUST leave the EU to regain control of our country. I supported the "in Europe but not run by Europe" stance of the late 1990s but I now realise that there is no point trying to tinker around the edges of the EU. You cannot be in but not run by Europe, that is the sad truth of the matter. What we need is a new trading alliance with Europe that does not commit us to loss of political identity. But experimenting with the UKIP is not the answer; we need to maintain the pressure on the Conservatives to change their official policy on Europe to match the views of the vast majority of its members! Well done to all those MPs who have openly called for us to leave the EU, I look forward to seeing many more."
Mr. Beeson	"I was desperately trying to think of one good reason for the UK to remain shackled to the EU. Democracy appears to have been sacrificed as most rules now come from the unelected bodies in Brussels. Who is elected to Westminster is now almost an irrelevance. It cost Britain, I believe, £6 billion this year in contributions. I would be interested to know just how much other countries are contributing? If countries who have benefited enormously financially to date - Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, to name a few, are still receiving hand-outs, I wonder why. When are they considered capable of supporting themselves? Why, indeed, is the UK a net contributor, and how long for? When can we expect similar handouts towards new roads, bridges etc. Is the UK taxpayer to subsidise the build up of Romania, Bulgaria and other East European countries as well as carry on contributing to the many billions poured into other countries so far. The £6 billion would surely have been better spent in this country. After all, we are seeing very little benefit here at home for the huge taxes we pay. It is not right that the Government hands over this hard-earned money without a fight. The Ministers in this country, after all, can afford to be generous. They have awarded themselves enough salary not to worry. The rest of us are finding it pretty rough. Incidentally, how does the system work? How come we are net contributors, whilst other countries are given billions of Euros in hand-outs over decades. Who worked this one out?"
B. C. Brazier	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Elizabeth Ann Biddulph	'Christian Soldiers' ~ The Christian Fellowship of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) . 'Fighting through Christ for deliverance from EU tyranny'. "No Christian who fears God, should vote for any political party or politician who supports, in any way, the imposition of EU rule on our sovereign Christian nation.'
Darren Bull	"When the people of a nation lose the right to determine their own future as a result of a sustained series of lies and deceptions, I think it would be quite legitimate to call that situation profoundly immoral, evil. I have to believe good will prevail. Good luck to you good people."
Brian Buttle	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Paul Henri Cadier	"The EU is a virus that has gradually invaded our continent via the political elite and is hollowing out the body politic leaving only the empty shell of a democracy. 84% of our laws are now made without our parliaments by unknown unelected and unaccountable officials. Elected representatives are only there for show. Post-democracy is already with us. We would all be better off out!"
David Chamberlain	"I wasn't asked if I wanted it. I wasn't given the opportunity to vote on the question of whether I wanted to be governed (badly) by Europe. I don't want to be part of Europe. It's a ridiculous organisation, with impossible ideals, cut off from the realities of ordinary peoples', every day lives. Neither did I vote for our politicians to hand over vast swathes of our sovereignty, without the electorates permission, of even understanding of what was happening. The first past the post, electoral system in this country always ensures that the majority do not get what they vote for. The whole thing is a complete shambles. I no longer believe in democracy. After the North East was given the opportunity to vote for, or against becoming a "region", 78% of the electorate said, very firmly "No we don't want this". So why has it come into existence anyway? There is no longer democracy in this country and a large contributing factor to this disgraceful situation, is the dictatorial attitudes of the EU. Which is not helped by the politicians of this country, who govern like the Kings they were supposed to guard us against. Prove me wrong. Prove that democracy still exists in this country and give the people a Referendum, asking the simple question: "Do you want to be a member of the European Union?" Or are we already too far gone down the road of dictatorship?"
Valerie and Alex Chambers	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Eddie Clark	"The EU is riddled with fraud and most certainly does not have Britain's interest at heart. We Brits are too honest to be part of this tribe, every EU dictat will be adhered to by us but the rest of Europe will continue to do its own thing. Look at the Fishery nonsense! This isn't new, we were saying the quota system was rubbish 10 years ago . . . nothing changes until we emulate the Swiss. Be part of Europe but not ruled by it."
Peter Clarke	"I support the BETTER OFF OUT campaign."
Leslie Cooper	The stench of Blair's decision to renege on a promise to hold a ballot on the EU Constitution still lingers heavily in the air. Following the French and Dutch votes, his action was tantamount to telling UK citizens that their thoughts on this matter were too immature, and would have damaged political aspirations for elitist self-satisfaction. The European monster is gravy-train driven, with some of those purporting to represent our interests eagerly looking to get on board - see attachment. Whilst I do not think UK will pull out of Europe - believe it is too deeply entrenched - our financial contribution has got to be radically reduced because we are being milked dry. War did not destroy this country, but something more sinister could.