Months ago, I had to rebel to support a referendum on our membership of the European Union. Today, it is Conservative policy. The Prime Minister has pledged that we will have a renegotiation and an in-out referendum if he is in power after the 2015 general election.

Why does it matter?

Over many, many years, politicians have taken power from the public and handed it to bureaucracies - up to Brussels and out to a myriad quangos. It was all supposed to be in our interests but we can see it isn't working now.

For example, a local company faces severe difficulties because the EU has unnecessarily banned the best way to protect hospitals against Legionnaire's Disease. The Health and Safety Executive failed to help and protect them, demanding they pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for a solution. Now there is deadlock and delay - all because of a dogmatic commitment to harmonisation.

Pilots are concerned about flight time limitations but it's an EU competence to be decided by majority amongst ministers. The British Government must lobby for support. MPs can only make futile protests.

The same phenomenon is at work at home too. The EU Working Time Directive is a key reason why A&E departments are shutting. The NHS isn't under public control - accountability is too weak. The result? An emphasis on quality to suit doctors and price to suit managers. The public want good local service but we find we must like what we are given.

There are many other examples. Committees of wise men at central banks set interest rates too low for too long, so too much was borrowed, savers were hammered and we were dropped into this economic mess. It's shameful.

Political power is too often out of control. Parliament today alternately legitimises and harangues the bureaucracy. It lets off steam. We nod through vast quantities of rules we have not drafted and cannot fully scrutinise. Debate is too often guillotined and announcements are made first to the press.

That must change and political power must first come home if it is to be accountable. Government at the continental or global scale is too big to control - it must be slimmed down so it can be understood and made accountable.

That's why the Prime Minister's European Union policy matters. It is the beginning of once again making Government accountable to the people.