Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Tom Walker is one of those in Scotland campaigning for the UK to leave the EU.

It can be a rather lonely experience trying to persuade Scots to vote to leave the EU.

Committed campaigners can be found shivering on the odd street corner, but they know Scotland is not fertile territory for them and they have hardly any prominent Scottish politicians backing them up.

Tom Walker won't let that put him off. A doctor, who has never been politically active before, he has been inspired to get out there and campaign against the odds.

He is not a member of any political party, he got through the whole of the Scottish independence referendum without feeling motivated to do any canvassing - but the idea of Brexit has him fired up and out on the streets.

At least he has plenty of different coloured leaflets to hand out.

Brexiteers are so few and far between in Scotland the competing leave campaigns cannot afford to squabble amongst themselves.

So they have teamed up together and Tom can give you literature produced by "Grassroots Out", "Vote Leave" or even "Labour Leave".

Dr Walker claims he meets plenty of voters who do want to get out of the EU.

People whose voice is not being well represented in the debate in Scotland. Polls suggest that around a third of Scots are planning to vote to leave.

Image caption Margaret Mitchell was the first Holyrood politician to speak publicly in favour of Brexit

There is clearly a strong vein of Euro scepticism running through Scotland. But there are almost no senior politicians or public figures who are campaigning to leave.

Only one Tory MSP, Margaret Mitchell, says she is an outer.

All five party leaders in the Holyrood parliament support the UK's continued membership of the EU and very few of the rank and file have publicly disagreed with them.

Even some of those with the most sceptical pedigrees have decided to vote to remain.

Democratic deficit?

When I popped in to a Conservative Party meeting in Edinburgh convened to debate the "EU - In or Out", it was obvious talking to people over the free wine and rather classy sandwiches (parma ham and mozzarella on ciabatta, very European) that almost half of the audience were hoping to hear strong arguments against EU membership.

But all three men on the panel were advocating a vote to remain.

The organisers hadn't found a speaker prepared to argue the case for leaving.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone is campaigning to stay in the EU

One of those speakers was Alex Johnstone, a Conservative MSP who has long been known for his highly sceptical views.

He describes the EU as a "failed project". And then says he will vote to remain a part of it.

He admitted to me that many people will be surprised and disappointed by his decision.

But he is typical of most Scottish Tories. And without a vigorous debate among the political class there is little to spark discussion among voters.

People who do want to leave the EU can legitimately complain that their views are simply not being represented by their elected representatives. It is something of a democratic deficit.

Shadow of election

There are few well known leavers. Like Jim Sillars, former deputy leader of the SNP.

Once he pioneered a policy of "independence in Europe" but he has changed his mind since then and is now one of the few high profile politicians campaigning to leave.

Image caption Jim Sillars is campaigning for Brexit

Others include former Labour MP Tom Harris, who is now heading up the Vote Leave campaign in Scotland, and another former Labour MP, Nigel Griffiths, who is running Labour Leave.

But they are up against Nicola Sturgeon and nearly all of the SNP as well as the leader of the opposition Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, the Lib Dems and the Greens.

One reason why there are so few politicians prepared to defy their party leadership and campaign to get out of the EU could be the imminent elections to the Scottish Parliament on 5 May.

They are consuming far more time and attention than the EU referendum.

And MSPs standing for re-election don't think this a good moment for their party to seem to be split on a big issue like Europe.

Voters too are far more concerned by arguments over new tax rates in Scotland than they are about European regulations. It is hard for the EU debate to break through.

Scots already have plenty of referendum experience. We have had four referendums in Scotland since the 1975 vote on membership of the Common Market.

So far this year's vote on the EU has not sparked anything like the fervour or enthusiasm that accompanied the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence.

Without well known, passionate advocates on both sides of the debate it will remain something of a damp squib.