‘If we are to form a United States of Europe, or whatever name it may take, we must begin now. Great Britain must be a friend and sponsor of the new Europe and must champion its right to live and shine’, stated Winston Churchill in the year after the Second World War. But instead of this eagerly anticipated United States of Europe, we now have a hated European Union; not an inspiring idea, but a political bureaucracy. The United Kingdom may actually be the antagonist of its demise and threatens to leave the EU; is this the behaviour of a good friend and sponsor? Is the British referendum a miscalculated electoral stunt by Cameron? What would happen if Britain left the EU, what are the consequences? Are we able to stop a Brexit and, if so, how?

Roger Scruton, one of Britain’s most famous and thought-provoking philosophers, is a supporter of a Brexit. Britain only entered the Union in 1973 and popular discontent with its membership is enormous. Why do so many British people want to leave the Union, while the Greeks do their utmost to stay in? What, if any, are the advantages of membership, and do they outweigh the costs? Roger Scruton discussed these questions during the Nexus Masterclass ‘Brexit: Yes or No?