The EU referendum will offer just a pale imitation of the Scottish independence referendum

The trouble with remakes is they almost always disappoint. This is so even, especially, when they have larger budgets, bigger ‘names’, and higher production values. Something gets lost and for those in the know the first, original, movie will always remain the best. So it is with referendums. The plebiscite on Britain’s membership of the EU is already, it is quite apparent, shaping up as a bloated re-run of the Scottish independence referendum. There are, for sure, differences between them and we shall come to some of those in due course, but a lay observer paying attention to these matters will notice that many of the lines remain the same. As so often, we have been here before. Consider, as an exemplary illustration of all this, Dan Hannan, the Tory MEP. Here, distilled to 140 characters, is his view of the fundamental battle lines in this debate:

EU backers want us to fear the unknown, but the known is that the EU is a corrupt, undemocratic, declining racket.