THE decision about whether we should keep our membership of the European Union is a fundamental one.

Our membership is so vital to the best interests of Scotland that when Labour and the Tories joined together during our own referendum campaign, they made it a central pillar of their case for staying in the UK, proclaiming that an independent Scotland would be cast adrift from the EU, leaving us ill-prepared to meet the challenges that our modern economy faces.

Last week saw the official start of the EU Referendum campaign. The Electoral Commission made its decision on who would form the official campaign bodies, and the starting gun was fired to let the debate proper commence. It’s fair to say, however, that the issue has not yet set the heather on fire either north or south of the Border.

I know that we have our own serious decisions to take first on May 5. There are huge issues at stake in the Holyrood election around who will govern Scotland and how we can improve the lives of everyone who lives here.

But even then, if you cast your mind back to the start of the official campaign for the independence referendum in the summer of 2014, you’ll remember a far more engaging, vigorous and energetic campaign, one which had permeated through every town, city and village in the country.

That was always the plan for Yes, because we felt from the start that it was in our interests to conduct our work in a positive, optimistic manner, which engaged the hearts and minds of voters who would make the final decision.

Grassroots and interest campaign groups were formed. Passionate debates were held in village halls, community centres and company boardrooms. Office tea breaks overran as workmates weighed up the relative merits of the arguments that led the news bulletins daily. This was a national debate, delivered with passion, but conducted overwhelmingly in a respectful, inclusive manner.

I’m still deeply disappointed by the result, but because I know that the Yes campaign worked incredibly hard to engage with all the voters in Scotland, I absolutely respect the judgement of the people.

This experience of the celebration of democracy that Scotland underwent in 2014, is one of the reasons why I remain concerned around the forthcoming EU referendum.

I say this because of the insipid, tired, negative show that both the official campaigns have put up to date. In the aftermath of the Treasury’s dossier of doom on the economic prospects for a UK outwith the EU, one Tory commentator this week dismissed David Cameron and George Osborne’s efforts as “a miserable, shrunken, diminished, wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie of a campaign”. Even those of us who value Scotland’s EU membership can agree on this point.

By copying the “Project Fear” playbook almost verbatim, both the official campaigns look set to further depress turnout as voters switch off and tune out. The real and present danger to our EU membership is not a wildfire of anti-EU sentiment in the public at large, which drives voters to the polls; it’s that regular voters will disengage and give up their chance to participate, leaving the field clear for the anti-EU fundamentalists to sway the result.

Negative campaigns have an established track record. They can play a crucial role in strengthening the existing views of voters. But with the gap between Remain and Leave tightening, and while some polls show that up to a quarter of voters are still to make their minds up, only a positive campaign will ensure that we help engage this group and bring voters out in numbers to the polling stations in June.

Perhaps this is why when I pressed the Minister for Europe about this in parliament last week, he was unable or unwilling to commit the UK Government to a target level of turnout. Maybe he knows as well as I, that the chance of this figure surpassing the 66 per cent turnout for last year’s General Election, not to mention approaching the huge level of engagement for Indyref, which saw a turnout of 85 per cent, is decreasing by the day.

The EU has protected the rights of women and Scottish workers from the worst instincts of this Westminster Government. It has allowed our firms to export Scottish products and produce freely, and to benefit from the free movement of labour.

It has meant high consumer standards and a cleaner environment, lower roaming charges when you use your mobile phone abroad, lower credit card fees, and proper levels of compensation when flights are delayed or cancelled.

These are all successes that should be cherished, valued and championed. Far from playing to our strategic advantage, pessimistic fear-mongering on the scale we’ve seen over the past week causes more harm to the case for remaining in the EU than good.