Southern Daily Echo – 7 May 2016

Campaigners calling for Britain to leave the EU were due to stage a high-profile event in Hampshire today. Cabinet Minister Chris Grayling, Leader of the House of Commons, will attend the launch of the New Forest’s Vote Leave campaign. The cross-party event will take place at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Lyndhurst Road, Brockenhurst.

Julian Lewis, Tory MP for New Forest East, said:

“The EU is run by people who are not directly elected so we cannot remove them, however badly they perform. They are determined to create a single country called ‘Europe’ with a single population, a single foreign policy, a single economy, a single justice system and a single Government.

“If they succeed, the result will be an undemocratic superstate. If they fail, the whole project will disintegrate ruinously. Either way, we are better off out – and this is our only chance to leave.”

Chris Grayling, 54, has represented the Surrey seat of Epsom and Ewell since 2001. Following the 2010 General Election, he was made Minister of State for Employment, before replacing Kenneth Clarke as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.

A statement on his website says:

“Britain is a nation that has helped shape the world. We have won wars in defence of freedom. We have created technologies that have changed lives. We have spread our cultural values across the globe.

“I believe the European Union is holding us back, which is why I will be voting to leave.”