THREE weeks ago today, the British people used the ballot box to wrest back control from a political direction they mistrusted.

The resulting upheaval has been astonishing.

A sitting Prime Minister gone within days, the official Opposition in turmoil and post-Brexit shock reverberating within the EU.

Who said the voter was powerless?

However, it was the fear of losing this right that, I believe, has led to this shake up.

Across Europe, a simmering resentment against political unaccountability has been building.

Moderates, who have ruled Europe for 60 years, are being challenged by increasingly nationalistic parties, worried by issues such as immigration.

Nowhere is this more evident than in countries like Holland, Hungary, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, where the fascist Freedom Party was only just defeated recently.

In Sweden, which has accepted many more refugees than the rest of Europe, a party with neo-Nazi ties has topped opinion polls in just five years.

Meanwhile, in France, 61 per cent are now hostile to the EU, blaming Angela Merkel for encouraging immigration, and Francois Hollande for a plummeting economy and soaring unemployment.

Voters there are turning to the Front National, with Marine Le Pen, alias ‘Madame Frexit,’ who’s predicted to win the Presidency next year.

Even in Germany, the anti-immigration party, Alternative for Germany, has boomed in three years, winning seats in regional elections in March from Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats.

We must be grateful that, here in Britain, the referendum we promised was delivered, allowing voters a say.

Without it, I believe we would have faced similar pressures.

It’s now time to enact the referendum’s verdict wholly, carefully and resolutely.

Strong, independent and outward-looking, our great country will continue to act as a beacon of hope to peoples across the world.