The Cambridge Brexit Campaign has been planning events since November and will be increasing its activity in the run up to the referendum. Interest in the group is low, but Ben seems optimistic. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by numbers at our previous talks. The reality is that it’s very difficult to engage people who aren’t usually interested in this sort of thing. The European Union is just one of those issues that bores people.”

He admits that the low student support for the ‘Out’ campaign is not solely down to political apathy. “A lot of students have a passive opposition to Brexit. They perhaps associate it with UKIP and think that it’s a nasty option. We’ll be trying to change that perception but some just won’t engage with us for those reasons and that’s a shame.”

I ask what his personal convictions for leaving are. “The ability to be self-governing is the main issue for me. When we have an EU Commission creating laws and imposing them on us, there is a problem. Personally, I also think we need more control of our borders.” He accepts that many of the laws created by the EU may be useful, but argues: “That’s not the point. They weren’t voted on by British people. It wasn’t done through a democratic system. The EU Parliament has no legislative power but the EU Council can create laws. And they aren’t obliged to listen to what the Parliament says.”

When pushed to name laws passed by the EU which have negatively affected Britain, he hesitates. “Well, there are these laws that we see in the Daily Mail: crazy directives about bendy fruits. The EU also has a lot of leverage. In Greece there was a stand-off between the EU and the Greek government.”

The benefits of the EU include access to a single European market, the protection of workers’ rights, free movement of people and cross-border security. Ben insists that these won’t be put at risk. “If we were to leave, we wouldn’t be pushed out straightaway. There would be a period of negotiations and then we would decide what to do. All these issues will be discussed but it’s very much in the EU’s interests to have free trade deals with the UK.”

As for workers’ protections, he claims: “It’s a much smaller world than it used to be. Leaving the EU may prove an inconvenience but the fact that people go to the US to work proves that, if we want to work elsewhere, we can.”

As Cambridge Brexit Campaign is attempting to win over students to the Out Campaign, I ask what benefit Brexit would have for students in particular. “I don’t think there are any inherent benefits to staying in the EU. It’s a neutral area for students.”

Students in Switzerland are not entitled to Erasmus loans and the think tank Open Europe has predicted that Erasmus loans for British students could be put at risk. When told this, Ben was unconvinced. “I don’t buy that. It could be the case, but we don’t have any limits on people from all over the world studying here. We have lots of students from Asia and the US and we recognise their contributions to Cambridge.”

I suggest that poorer students from European countries may struggle to come to Cambridge without Erasmus loans. “Perhaps. But European countries have their own universities anyway. If you’re making the point that poor people should be entitled to study where they wish, I would agree. But why should we favour some people based on geographical location?”

The ‘Out’ campaign has been buoyed by news of Boris Johnson’s support for Brexit. Ben affirms: “All the national campaigns will welcome his support. He’s advocating a double referendum strategy, whereby we vote out, the EU gives us more options and then we vote again. It seems a bit risky but that’s his view. In any case, he’s the most popular politician in the country and hopefully students will be swayed by what he has to say.”

I ask if Boris can relate to university students. In the past he has joked that women only go to university to find a husband. “That doesn’t make what he has to say on the EU any less valid. I think politics should be about arguments but personality does play a huge part. If he says things that some people don’t like then so be it, he doesn’t speak for everyone. There is an array of different opinions in the Brexit movement. We have moderate Labour MPs, plenty of Conservative MPs and even George Galloway, who has very different views from Boris.”

To complement this range of voices, the Cambridge Brexit Campaign has been inviting a range of speakers to garner support for the movement. “Brendan O’Neill is coming next week. We’re also going to help the local campaign leaflet the town.

“We’ve got eight or nine people on the committee but I think people will get more involved as the referendum approaches.”