After heading to the polls three times in the past 18 months no one could blame Scots for suffering from election fatigue.

But four weeks today we’ll head to the ballot boxes again, to answer another question that is profoundly important to the future of our country.

Should the UK remain a member of the European Union?

As leader of a party which believes in co-operation, shared power and sovereignty it will surprise no one that I believe our is brighter as part of the EU .

We know in Scotland how challenging it can be to make a positive case for the status quo against an argument rooted in the language of change, but the Leave campaign rhetoric, based on fear and division, deserves to lose.

The Labour party exists to defend, protect and further the interests of working people, and it is from that perspective that I back staying in. It has meant at least four weeks’ paid holiday for all, equal treatment of part-time and full-time workers and established the legal principle of equal pay for equal work.

As childcare continues to be arguably the most pressing economic policy question of our generation, the EU is the reason we have minimum maternity leave entitlements and legal protections for pregnant workers.

Meanwhile, whilst in Scotland we celebrate the diversity of our people and our politics to the point that three of the party leaders in the Scottish Parliament are LGBT we should consider the role played by the EU in ensuring protection from workplace discrimination on the grounds of age, race, gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation.

My defining mission as leader of my party is to put education and opportunities for young people at the heart of everything we do as a country. Cutting the gap between the richest and the rest in our classrooms to give our people the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future will mean a stronger economy and a fairer Scotland. The EU has a role to play in that.

The EU's Erasmus+ scheme allows young Britons to work or study abroad giving our young people not just exposure to skills and training they wouldn’t get otherwise, but to cultures and languages which broaden our own communities.

The EU supports apprenticeships and back-to-work schemes in areas of the UK with high youth unemployment levels, whilst EU research funding support the work of Scottish universities, helping them stay amongst the best in the world.

Workers’ rights and opportunities for our young people are two of the key Labour arguments for a remain vote, but this question is also about facing the major global challenges of the future, such as the environment and terrorism. I believe that the overwhelming weight of evidence is in favour of the UK remaining in the EU.

The European Arrest Warrant allows the UK to bring suspects arrested elsewhere in Europe to justice whilst being in the EU has allowed the UK to improve intelligence sharing to assist in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.

Just as how Scotland has a seat at the top table as part of the UK, so too does the UK have enhanced global influence as part of a bloc of 20 countries and 500 million people. That’s why nations such as the United States of America and Japan have said that Britain is stronger in the EU.

Soft power, that almost intangible factor in determining a nation’s influence on the world, is something that the UK has always punched above its weight in and that power has been enhanced as a member state of the EU. The UK is a gateway for the English-speaking countries on the other side of world to continental Europe and vice versa. Rather than be that vital link those in favour of Brexit would have us break that link.

On top of the economic, diplomatic, environmental arguments for Europe is one that comes more from our hearts than our heads - there is something beautiful about being part of this European family.

The debate thus far has been dominated by the tiresome pantomime of two Bullingdon Boys battling over the Tory leadership, meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon, a politician of huge influence in this debate, only intervenes to criticise her own side.

This is a huge question about the future of our country. There are four weeks left. It’s time for politicians on all sides to up their game.

Kezia Dugdale is Scottish Labour leader.