If not, and the vote is to exit, it will be no good saying afterwards that “we didn’t understand what we were voting for” – the repeated complaint made by eurosceptics about the 1975 Referendum. By then it will be too late.

Otto English dissects the disadvantages that a free trade agreement between the two countries would bring to the UK.

Australians have had their fair share of political turbulence in recent years but, as Nick D Miller explains in a new book ,'Do They Mean Us?', many Down Under simply cannot understand Britain's act of self-sabotage.

As director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, I know what this institution does – and the notion that it can pick up the slack when the UK leaves the EU is nonsense.

'It is hard to predict how full Brexit would play out, because this scale of multiple simultaneous renegotiations of global trade agreements is unprecedented – and no country has ever left the EU. It certainly can’t be assumed that Britain is bound to get quick and good deals because it is a large economy.'

Commonwealth leaders intend to hold to the guiding principle of equality among the members of the 53-nation club.

But as potential havoc draws near, May’s government seems to have its attention elsewhere. Burdened by their deliberations with Europe, key cabinet ministers are instead trying to woo support from Britain’s former colonies.