 Now over the course of the last few weeks my colleagues and I have produced short videos setting out the arguments on both sides of the EU referendum debate. They've covered a wide range of issues and I hope they've helped inform discussion and help voters form their own opinions on either side of the argument. This video is different, it's not impersonal and it's not impartial. I want to set out why I will be voting on Thursday for the UK to remain a member of the European Union. I have over 20 years of experience of researching, teaching and writing about the European single market. Much of the debate has focused on whether the UK should remain a member of the single market. The Leave campaign argues for a free trade deal outside the EU. The Remain campaign argues for continuing participation in the EU single market. Leaving the single market for free trade outside the EU is like giving up superfast broadband for a dial-up internet connection. The single market is not more than just about removing tariffs and customs duties. It's the ambition to create a truly European market and not just in goods but in the services sectors that are vital to the British economy. Trade is important but not all trade regimes are the same. Yes the UK would eventually agree different kinds of free trade deals outside the EU but they'd be nowhere near as extensive or comprehensive. To take a different analogy leaving the single market is like cancelling your sky or virgin multi-channel TV subscriptions to going back to just having the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 or perhaps cancelling your gym membership and buying an exercise bike. And in the EU we don't just have free trade. Fair trade means that there are rules to protect consumers from unfair practices or unsafe products. There are rules to protect workers if they have unpaid wages if their employer goes bust. There are rules to protect passengers if their flights are delayed or cancelled. And there are rules to ensure that we protect the environment. So the choice is between the free trade free for all outside the EU that puts big business first or fair trade that protects workers and consumers and demands that big business plays by the rules. Take a simple example like mobile phone roaming charges. Concerted efforts by the European Parliament and national governments have forced mobile phone companies to reduce roaming charges. Companies like Vodafone and T-Mobile even try to overturn the new EU rules in the European Court. They lost. And as a result we have roaming charges that are a fraction of what they are if you use your mobile phone for example in the USA. So is this really faceless bureaucrats interfering with our sovereignty or an example of the need for action at European level and cooperation between our elected NEPs and our elected national governments working together to help face the challenges the nation states alone cannot meet. But we also need to be honest. The EU faces and has faced a competitiveness problem. And instability and recession in the Eurozone has only made that worse. Understandably EU citizens have made the difficult decision to leave family and friends and find work elsewhere including in the UK. Now the UK is outside of the Eurozone and that's not about to change. But the UK has an interest in the success of the Eurozone and in our European partners making the right choices about how to move forward. So are we better staying in the EU and being a productive neighbour and partner or better walking away and leaving them to it? And we might ask this question about other issues including the refugee crisis. Do we simply see it as someone else's problem? That is as much a question of philosophy or morality and people will hold different views. But the refugee crisis is a common problem for Europe. And I think that as sovereign states and as well as as members of the international organisations like the EU it is possible to try and find common solutions. To put it another way the UK can exercise its sovereignty in and through the European Union. It doesn't have to leave the EU to exercise its political power. I also want to be clear that if the UK votes to remain in the EU the status quo is not an option. That does not just mean making good on the new settlement deal negotiated by the Prime Minister. Whatever its value it does not go nearly far enough in addressing either the accountability problems of those who are worried about EU decision making or the ambitions of those who want to see the EU working alongside member states and taking a stronger lead on workers' rights or climate change or fostering innovation and enterprise. Whatever you think of yourself whether it is being on the left or on the right there is a mood for political change and our leaders need to act on that. What this debate I think has highlighted is the desire in the EU to make decisions in the European Union in particular for more political accountability for decisions made in the European Union and that works at two levels. Our own politics needs to get to grips with European decision making. In some ways the campaigns have helped shed light on how decisions are really made but there continues to be not just a lot of myths about the EU but outright lies. We need a more engaged political culture in Europe in the European stage and at the EU level I think there needs to be much more political responsibility and political control. Now much has been said about the powers of the European Commission. In reality performs more of a role as a European civil service than a European Government but I do believe there needs to be much more political control over the European Commission. National parliaments have some role to play but I believe that collective control is better exercised by national prime ministers and presidents through the European Council. All too often European Council summits have played a crisis management role. It needs instead to be able to exercise real political oversight and give real political leadership with prime ministers and presidents accountable to their peoples. So I want to see a serious review of European institutions to see how to make the EU democratically fit and accountable for an EU in 2017 rather than making do with the structures created in 1957. There is another reason to look to 2017. If the UK votes to remain in the EU the UK will hold the presidency of the EU giving it an opportunity to work with European partners to promote its agenda and vision for the EU. Now this is an important chance to reflect on the concerns and anxieties of citizens not just in this country but across the EU and to build a platform for meaningful reform. There is also a chance for the UK to champion issues like completing the digital single market that is vital for the UK economy or fighting to end human trafficking. Now I would have liked to have seen the prime minister and other political leaders set out an ambitious agenda for a presidency for people addressing not just our anxieties but our hopes and aspirations for our own and also future generations. And I hope that our vote to remain will spur our political leaders to set out such an agenda. I believe that the UK is stronger in the EU and that the EU is stronger with the UK in it. And I don't believe that the values that the British believe in, democracy, equality upholding the rule of law are different to the values of other European countries. But the EU has provided a framework of stability to protect those values in existing EU states and to promote those values in new EU states and beyond. Yes, the enlargement of the EU means that new EU citizens are created with rights to travel and work, start businesses across the EU. The same rights as UK citizens and businesses currently enjoying. Would we really rather that our near neighbors were also outside the EU, unstable and posing a threat to our own peace and security? We only need to look at what's happening in Ukraine to realise that we all still need to protect and safeguard peace and security in Europe. And the EU is one part of that jigsaw. The many of us will have watched the images of the planet from space as a British astronaut to impeach return to Earth. Now the planet does have some natural boundaries, but borders are political choices. And we have a choice. Build bridges or build borders. Work with our European neighbours or become isolated in Europe. Unite our own country or see it divided and torn apart. I've made my decision and I will be voting for the UK to remain in the European Union.