“We must take back control”

As if we don’t already have control. Would we really have joined an institution where we wouldn’t have control?

This soundbite is clever and concise, and easy to jump on, and it’s one of Boris Johnson’s favourite things to chant. And by doing it, he’s deliberately giving credence to the lie that we don’t have control over our lawmaking, that we’re ruled by an unaccountable bureaucratic force, somewhere in the darkest depths of Brussels. Oooooh.

[I can’t remember who made this point but it’s a good one. While we’re talking about bureaucrats – like they’re fat cats somewhere in Brussels, wearing top hats and laughing at taking money straight from the UK… The EU employs 55,000 bureaucrats. The UK government employs 400,000.]

Anyway, I digress. The lawmakers in the EU ARE elected. It’s that simple. Who makes laws? The Council of the European Union and…