I was, until relatively recently, a Eurosceptic. Why couldn't Britain flourish on its own as a medium-sized bastion of liberal democracy and free market growth?

Like a fun-loving version of Switzerland transplanted onto our North Atlantic archipelago, perhaps. Our soft power – our music, telly, films, literature, newspapers and media – would project our influence around the world. We would blossom, free of the constraints of Europe and its knackered economies and creaking working practices.

But then, two years ago, I went on a business trip to Qatar in the Middle East.

In one of that city-state's few licensed bars, at two in the morning, I looked around me and saw the future. I saw the globalised world on a postage stamp. And it didn't give two hoots about Britain.

Nigel Farage and Sir Bob Geldof clash over Brexit flotilla

In that bar I spotted a a scattering of European expats, but most of the drinkers were from the new global powers. They were Chinese, Indian, Arab and Russian. They were not listening to UK or US music; they were listening to African beats and South American pop.

In our globalised future, Britain's ‘soft power’ will be the equivalent of firing a pea-shooter at a panther.

These new powers are not liberal democracies as we would recognise them. Across huge swathes of the world, the ideals of our liberal culture are in retreat. The concepts of the rule of law, freedom of the press, human rights and civil liberties are on the wane.

Just look at Turkey, Russia, Brazil, South Africa. That’s before we even consider China's utter disdain for democracy and most of the ideals we hold dear. Or, dare I say it, the politics of Donald Trump.

The European Union is not ideal, but what democratic government is? With the new realities of globalisation, we need to be on the right team. We need to hold close those with whom we have most in common.

This referendum should not be about short-term economics or the fear of recession, but there is a very strong argument for the EU in terms of our collective economic history and financial needs.

Much of Europe is dealing with similar long term issues as the UK, of post-industrial malaise and the rise of cheap labour in the developing world. The failure of industrial policy is the same in northern Italy as it is south Yorkshire. It’s better to grapple with these issues together.

The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit Show all 7 1 /7 The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 22 May 2015 In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion. “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 13 November 2015 UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda. “Cameron says we’re safer in the EU. Well I’m in the centre of the EU and it doesn’t feel very safe.” Getty Images The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 19 April 2016 In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation. “We’re voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration.” Rex The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 26 April 2016 In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a UKIP advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: ‘Love Actually’ to dishonour the US stance on the EU. “A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend” The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 10 May 2016 During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldn’t not find work because of uncontrolled migration. “The European Union is a ‘force for social injustice’ which backs the ‘haves rather than the have-nots.” EPA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 15 May 2016 Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state. “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically.” “The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.” PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 16 May 2016 During a tour of the women’s clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Gove’s in which he compares the EU to ‘badly designed undergarments.’ “So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Let’s say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down.” Getty Images

Yet this vote is not really about the economy. It is about ideas. With Putin parking his tanks on our European lawn, with Isis throwing gay people off tall buildings within sight of the Mediterranean, with China's economic nationalism threatening everything we believe in, and with Arab sovereign wealth funds buying up any Western assets they can get their hands on, now is the wrong time to divorce ourselves from our closest allies, culturally and geographically.

The Europe we need to embrace next Thursday is the Europe of the shared battle against left-wing and right-wing fascism; of the reformation; of the renaissance; of the enlightenment; of mass secularism; of liberal democracy.

If we really want to protect the values that we in Britain claim to treasure, then we will best do so within a close-knit European family. That’s why I, a long-standing Eurosceptic, will be voting to remain.