In a few days’ time the focus of the EU referendum will shift from the current battle for the hearts and minds of Britain’s 11m Conservatives to an even larger group — the 14m voters, 9m of them Labour, who are not right-of-centre — and to the danger that many will not vote Remain, but simply remain at home.
While more instinctively pro-European, this group’s concerns are not the same as the Conservatives’. They do not think the status quo is to their benefit, they want to know how their lives can improve and they need to hear a positive message of how Europe can deliver for them in the future.
To win in the Scottish independence referendum, the Better Together campaign had to do much more than elaborate the negative consequences of the break-up of Britain. We had to set out a positive reform agenda, which eventually led to a new constitutional settlement. Fortunately, there is an evolving agenda for the 2017 UK presidency of the EU which can make a reformed Europe work better for Britain and show how Britain can lead in Europe.