Being a young person who voted to Leave in the EU referendum, with most of your friends and peers having voted to Remain, means quite often you feel judged. Whenever I do express my opinions regarding why I voted to Leave, often I am met with shock. People automatically assume that as a young person (I am 23 years old and from an ethnic minority background), I must have voted to Remain in the EU referendum. I am incredibly frustrated about the current state of the Brexit ‘negotiations’. If the European Parliament election goes ahead, I will be voting in such an election for the first time in my life – and I will be voting for the Brexit Party. Although I disagree with Nigel Farage on a number of issues, there are some important areas on which I do agree with him regarding Brexit. There is an attempt by politicians to stop Brexit and overturn the referendum result. Some of my own personal friends and peers support such a position, even to the point, in my personal opinion, where democracy would be undermined and overruled. You cannot call yourself a democrat and advocate ignoring or overturning the referendum result simply because you don’t like it. If this were to happen, I think it would set a very dangerous precedent in British elections. Democracy means accepting the views of the majority, whether you agree or not. In the run-up to the EU referendum, I was actually going to vote Remain. And then I questioned my position. Why do I think the UK should remain in the EU? In what way do I feel I have benefited from the EU in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t have done? I couldn’t answer those questions and so I began conducting my own research, which was also aided through undertaking an EU politics module in my final year of university. This resulted in quite a eurosceptic view. There is a democratic deficit that is inherent in the EU. The EU actually relies on a lack of accountability to ‘EU citizens’ to pursue disastrous social and economic policies. The handling of the ‘migrant crisis’ and the Eurozone crisis are some high-profile examples. Such crises also illustrate that the EU is not fit for purpose and has outlived its usefulness. Rationalisations for its existence can be traced back to the 1950s and 1960s when there was a real need for it following the Second World War. There was a real need for greater integration and cooperation between European nations. And there is still an obvious need for cooperation among European countries; however, this is not best achieved within the EU with its constant pursuit of supra-nationalism. But to me, that didn’t necessarily mean that we should Leave. I thought membership was still feasible if the EU showed a willingness to reform. Of course, it didn’t and only expressed contempt and arrogance towards the views and wishes of its supposed ‘citizens’. The attempts now by Remainers to undermine and overturn the referendum result just replicate the same contempt and arrogance of EU bureaucrats. I think that the Brexit Party will perform well in the European Parliament elections. It will be interesting to see how Remainers and EU bureaucrats respond to that… These are Samia’s own views and do not represent those of her employer or any of the organisations with whom she volunteers.