UK’s Leave and Remain campaigners clashed in a televised debated on Tuesday (June 21) night in a last-ditched effort to persuade voters to stick with, or ditch, the European Union.
On Thursday (June 23) Britons will vote to decide whether to quit the bloc they joined in 1973, a choice with far-reaching economic and political consequences for Britain and the whole of Europe.
The Leave campaign, led by Conservative MP Boris Johnson, accused the opposition of installing fear early on in the debate.
“It hasn’t taken them long. They began by telling us that they were going to have a positive and patriotic case, and they’re back to project fear within moments of this debate beginning,” said Johnson.
The campaign to leave the EU – the so-called “Brexit” – has echoes of populist movements across Europe and in the United States. It advocates Britons to “take back control” from Europe’s elites, in particular over trade and immigration.
But Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London and Remain supporter, pressed for a concrete post-Brexit plan from the Leave team.
“A slogan is not a detailed plan. We want to ask the question – what is your plan?,” asked Khan. “One of the reasons why we’re the fifth richest country is because our role is enhanced by being in the European Union. We’re at the table helping the rules be made.”
When it comes to international trade negotiations, Johnson said Britain has handed over too much power to the European Commission.
“It’s no wonder that they (UK) have not been able to do essential free trade deals with China, with India, with all the great economies in the world, including America,” Johnson told the debate. “We cannot because the EU is in charge of our trade negotiations, we cannot export… haggis! We cannot export haggis to America,” said Johnson, answering a question from Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, referring to the famous Scottish delicacy.
Throughout the debate the Remain team accused Leave campaigners of “telling lies” to the public and “scaring people” to vote to leave the EU.
“Turkey is not set to join the EU. Boris, you’re telling lies and you’re scaring people because you’ve used taxpayers’ money to put out election leaflet that says ‘Turkey’s set to join’, and there’s a map. There’s a map, and this map shows in red Turkey, but the only country’s name in this map are Syria and Iraq. That’s scaremongering, Boris, and you should be ashamed,” said Khan to Johnson, his immediate predecessor as the London Mayor.
Immigration has been one of the central topics of the EU referendum debate. Those campaigning for a “Leave” vote say the government is powerless to control numbers arriving because of EU freedom of movement rules.
The Leave campaign calls for an Australian-style points-based immigration system to control the number of EU citizens coming to the UK. However when pressed during the debate whether it’s ever promised to reduce numbers of immigrants after leaving the EU, Leave campaigner Gisela Stuart skirted around the question and said: “You take back control and you can decide.”
Andrea Leadsom, Energy Minister and Leave campaigner, questioned how much control Britain really has by being part of the European Union.
“The problem is that in the EU there are 10,000 officials, that’s nearly twice the number of people in this room by the way, who earn more than the UK prime minister, and that gravy train is continuing,” said Leadsom.
“So we Britain, have voted against Europe 70 times, and 70 times we have been outvoted, so how does that mean we have any influence in Europe,” she added.
The United Kingdom and Gibraltar have a total of 46.5 million electors who are eligible to vote in Thursday’s referendum on European Union membership, the Electoral Commission said.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday highlighted the risks of Brexit, noting it could have “significant economic repercussions”. In a similarly guarded tone, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said the ECB stood ready to act with all instruments if necessary.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016