With the date for the UK’s EU referendum not yet set, it still feels like the Remain and Leave campaigns are in their early, pre-preparation phases writes Jon Worth.

It strikes me that the Remain side campaigns have all hit upon the idea that patriotism is going to win the day for them. It is in Britain’s interest to remain in the EU (oops, sorry, Europe). You are pro-Europe because you are pro-Britain. As Pawel Swidlicki points out, all the messages being used by Labour In are indistinguishable from those of Stronger In – it seems that simply not wanting to share panels with Tories is the rationale for a separate campaign.

Here’s an idea, Remain campaigners: there are actually different reasons to be in favour of the EU. And those rationales appeal to different individuals in different ways. Speak to those people as individuals, or speak to them according to groups they are part of. Don’t just lump all of them together because they are British, or somehow patriotic about Britain. Look at how the YES campaign in Scotland did it – there were dozens of different campaigning groups in favour of YES (some listed here), and what they all wanted was not always consistent (the needs of a crofter and the needs of a suburban family are rather different), but the campaign was interesting, diverse, and also civic as well as nationalist. And it gave Better Together one almighty fright. The only really good grassroots campaign effort I’ve yet encountered is Scientists 4 EU (web, Twitter), and European Movement is giving #Students4Europe a bit of a go. It’d be better to have “Labour In for Workers” or “Business Stronger in the EU” or “Entrepreneurs for IN”, and dozens of others besides.

I also wonder about the wider framing of making a patriotic case to remain in the EU. If you are a patriot, then surely you would go for the real defenders of Britain – the Leave people, who would take Britain back to its empire glory days. The Remain side cannot out-patriot the Leave side, and it hence should not even try.

This a blog post by Jon Worth. His blog can be found here:- https://jonworth.eu/the-uks-eu-referendum-speak-to-me-as-a-person-not-as-a-brit/