THE EU referendum campaign is well underway and I think it’s going to be the most important vote that we will take in our lifetime. Britain’s membership costs £350m a week - money which could be better spent on schools and hospitals here in the UK. Yet not only do we hand over billions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash each year, but the EU’s own auditors have never been able to sign off the books and explain exactly what has happened to this money.

I am particularly concerned by the current wave of illegal mass immigration into the EU and the suggestion that instead of stopping it, the EU will simply order all of its members to accept quotas of migrants. The prospect of Turkish membership will give the EU borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria and is simply going to make matters worse in the future.

But most of all I believe it is wrong that laws are made by unelected officials in Brussels, not by elected MEPs and certainly not by our own MPs in Westminster.

When I was last in Brussels a few weeks ago, officials were keen to tell me of the importance of having large teams of people there because so much business gets done behind closed doors at receptions or, as one official once said, over lunch at a good restaurant! No wonder big business leaders like Philip Green and banks like Goldman Sachs favour the EU – they can afford to pay for the lobbyists and the lunches.

Lord Stuart Rose, head of the pro-EU camp, went further by saying we should stay in because if we pull out wages for the low-paid would rise! He obviously sees this as a bad thing.

My background is a small family transport business and I have no hesitation in opposing the interests of the multinationals, the NGOs, or the US Government for that matter. I am sorry though to be fighting against David Cameron and the Conservative Government who are determined to keep us in the EU. There is, however, an important principle at stake. Do we believe that the British people should be able to govern themselves or not?

For me, the answer is clear and so for the next few weeks I will be working with cross-party Vote Leave supporters to deliver leaflets and hold campaign stalls across Monmouthshire. If you would like to join us, please email david.davies.mp@parliament.uk.