IN THE run up to the EU referendum on June 23, the Guardian is asking people for their views on whether the UK should leave or remain.

Here we speak to Freddy Vachha, who was UKIP’s candidate in Chingford and Woodford Green at the general election and is contesting the London Assembly elections, on why he is backing Brexit.

"We never consented to joining an undemocratic, unaccountable, socialist superstate – back in 1973, the EEC was merely a Common Market. Now, desperate scaremongering propaganda would have us believe the sky will fall on us if we leave. It won’t. These doomsayers are EU-funded.

"Britain’s cumulative trade deficit with the EU since we joined is, per the Treasury, almost £700,000,000,000 (restated in today’s money, higher still). So when we leave, EU states will be chomping at the bit for trade treaties.

"Since 1980, the 27 other EU states’ share of world output fell from 26 per cent to 14 per cent (IMF data). We will leave this moribund club and join the wider world of 167 countries free from ill-conceived EU bungling and over-regulation.

"The EU is bankrupt and corrupt (auditors refusing to sign off its accounts since 1995). Were it a country, the EU wouldn’t qualify to join the EU.

"IDS mentioned the £20 billion annual EU membership fee. That’s but a minor component of the overall damage we suffer, including indirect costs, losses (e.g., of our fishing rights) and inefficiencies, estimated at £180 billion annually – a staggering £5,700 every second.

"EU’s reckless 'policies' led to uncontrollable mass immigration and a hugeresulting catastrophic erosion of our quality of life, plus chaos (most 'refugees' do not meet the UN definition thereof; many are economic migrants) with concomitant dangers from terrorism.

"Expecting EU reform is naive in the extreme. Since 1996, Britain tried to block 55 new EU laws. Britain failed all 55 times.

"If the US hands over border control to Mexico, has its Supreme Court routinely overruled by amateurs in Cuba, has senators appointed without elections – then, perhaps, I won’t accuse Obama of hypocrisy.

"We’re better off out. Put the Great back into Britain. Set Us Free on June Twenty-Three."