Watching Michael Gove speak on Channel 4 news about banning the use of plastic straws, he seems to completely undermine his own logic in his arguments over polluting our seas. His argument is that banning plastic straws is not possible in the EU, and therefore our ability to do so outside of the EU justifies our departure as a way of cleaning up the oceans of the world. The need to work with other nations on such schemes is clear and unambiguous. I can ban plastic straws in my house, but if the rest of my neighbours choose to continue to buy them, the impact of one family will be almost negligible. On the other hand if I can persuade all of my neighbours to carry out such a radical act, then we can begin to make a difference. Even better if we can make our city straw free. This is the basis on which matters such as Fairtrade have been established at local levels. However if we can get our Government to take the same approach we are then into even better territory. If they can persuade the Governments that they have trade and political deals with to work together, even if it takes a bit longer, then we are on to a winner. Michael Gove may be missing the point or perhaps he is using straw bans to justify our departure from the EU. Either way he is clearly wrong. If our Government had spent the last 19 months negotiating straw bans with the EU one imagines we would be a bit nearer the target, although our Governments ability as a negotiator is clearly in question. What about if instead of asking people if they want to be part of a bureaucratic structure we asked people what they want from their nation and its partners. Sadly it seems unlikely if a plastic straw ban would gain 17m votes, however this would then give our Government and its successors a mandate to argue for with the EU and UN and Nato etc. This would also be a positive way of determining the best way of shaping our nation. However it would be a much more challenging approach than simply asking which club people want to be part of! The reality is that our membership of the EU will strengthen our ability to persuade them to also ban straws. That is simple and clear. If they don’t ban straws then our efforts which will be good, will sadly have a limited impact.