The starting gun has been fired on the EU referendum. Negotiations completed, the date of the decision about Britain's future is set for the 23rd June.
Despite voicing my opinions about our membership of the EU at the last three general elections, in these pages, on broadcast media, and recently as a signed up member of Conservatives for a Reformed Europe in the national press, a few people are still unsure where I stand on our membership. So to be clear, I will be campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU.
I have many reasons, but three principal ones - based on my preference to look at things through the prism of economics.
Many international businesses have UK branches because we offer access to the EU single market. Motor manufacturers, banks and a range of other businesses see the UK as the best point of entry to the EU single market. Not all would leave the UK if we exited, but they would invest far less here in the future if we were out.
Secondly, the world is a far more competitive place. China is about to reassert its historical place as the world's biggest economy. But the EU sets standards of production that the world abides by. Our manufacturers of goods would lose their place at the decision making table when it comes to setting those standards. We would be passengers, not drivers, on the international stage. And don't forget we are one of the single most influential members of the EU.
But the third reason is the most important. I represent over 40,000 households in Wyre Forest and my colleagues across Worcestershire yet more households - households left with large debt after the Brown Bubble years. It is, of course, nonsense to say that millions of jobs would be lost if we came out of the EU. But all agree that there would be a period of great economic uncertainty as we exited. That uncertainty would increase the risk to those households still stretched with debt (a crisis of confidence in the pound, for example, would result in a rise in interest rates to support sterling). So I am not prepared, as one of Worcestershire's MP, to put those households at greater risk simply for the purpose of a political experiment. No one knows what effect our decision in June will have on our economy in ten, twenty or thirty years' time. We can guess, but we all agree that Brexit will cause short term instability. That is an unacceptable risk that could possibly blight a generation.