• I’M a passionate patriot: Brexiteers aren’t alone in being motivated by patriotism. One of the reasons I think Brexit is so wrong is the damage I judge it’ll do to my country.

Our history on the world stage hasn’t been faultless, but on balance we’ve much to be proud of, and much still to contribute. Right now, though, we see our global standing diminishing before our eyes.

The unity of the UK is getting shaky too. Were Northern Ireland and Scotland to spin off in coming years, how (to take one example) could we defend our permanent seat on the UN Security Council against stronger claims? We don’t know how things will turn out, but none of this looks good.

I can understand the pull of “reclaiming sovereignty”. But who can actually point to any real damage to their way of living that can be attributed to the EU? In any case, much of the legislative superstructure governing our lives – on health, education, crime, defence and taxation – is largely domestic in origin.

But, a Brexiteer might argue, that’s not the point. There’s a greater issue of principle at stake. We allow Brussels to formulate legislation which we’re then obliged to follow. We’ve forfeited our autonomy, and with it our pride.

Pooled sovereignty, however, isn’t unique to the EU project. We’ve been pooling sovereignty with other nations for centuries, whenever the advantages have outweighed the disadvantages. The UK is a classic example of pooled sovereignty. The smaller nations have often chafed at England’s dominance, but on balance it has suited us all – until now at least.

Looking wider, many of our international treaty obligations involve some ceding of sovereignty, but again we’ve engaged in it because it suits us. If we wanted complete autonomy we’d be reduced to a very minor actor in the world, and a very minor economy.

More serious in practical terms is immigration. The world has been going through one of its periodic migratory upheavals, causing great strains on receiving countries, as well as the countries that people leave. The chances are the upheaval has barely begun.

With intensifying climate change, economic and health inequalities, the globalisation of social media, cheap transport and human trafficking, we’re likely to see much larger numbers on the move in coming decades. It’s pie in the sky to think we can simply pull down the shutters and expect others to shield us from it.

And it’s ridiculous to suppose that making migration from mainland Europe more difficult will solve our most pressing problems. The fact is: the UK is facing a demographic timebomb, with an increasing imbalance in the ratio of old to young people. We need a plentiful supply of workers, whether from Europe or beyond, to help boost the economy, run services and generate the necessary tax receipts.

The EU doesn’t stop us from tightening controls on migration from Europe, let alone elsewhere. Our own political culture and traditions – our aversion, for example, to ID cards – are more of an obstacle. We need to work this through, but we’ll get nowhere if we insist the EU is the seat of our problems.

So, yes, I do understand where a lot of Brexiteers are coming from. But I believe they’re utterly misguided about the solutions. Brexit isn’t the answer: it’ll just make things a lot worse. It’s not surprising that – contrary to the usual misleading claims – only a minority of the UK’s adult population voted Leave in the referendum.

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