An invite to the discussion?

Ian McKenzie, communications director of The People's Pledge campaign for a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, has announced that the campaign has appointed a new director, and it is he.

This is the man, a europhile to his core, who believes there should be an in-out referendum in the next parliament. "If it were held", he tells the pompous John Rentoul, "the European cause would win, and the sceptics would lose all purchase on British politics for a generation".

So, let's get this straight. The man fronting a campaign for an EU referendum believes that the British public would vote for continued membership, thus wiping out euroscepticism for a generation – which is why he wants a referendum. This is a campaign that eurosceptics should support?

Then there is John Cruddas MP, telling us that this is about "democracy". The political classes, he says, "should invite the people into the discussion that affects their everyday lives". How so very kind – by the grace of John Cruddas and his mates, we the people actually get an invite to the discussion.

But the point of course, it that any "discussion" is held on terms dictated by the political classes, with any vote rigged and then permitted only when the outcome is assured. Is this really democracy?

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