Campaigners on both sides of the crucial vote on whether Britain should remain in the EU crisscrossed the country yesterday, their last day to win support from the undecided.
British Prime Minister David Cameron outlined his vision for a future with Britain retaining its place in the 28-nation bloc, bristling at the notion that the country would be headed in the wrong direction if it stayed in and flatly rejecting the charge that the institution is moribund.
“We are not shackled to a corpse,” Cameron told the BBC. “You can see the European economy’s recovery. It’s the largest single market in the world.”
Photo: Reuters
The most notable figure in the “leave” campaign, former London mayor Boris Johnson, started a whirlwind tour of England as he pushed for a British exit — or “Brexit.”
Touring the Billingsgate Fish Market, Johnson mugged for the cameras with fish in hand — a not-so-subtle reminder that Britain is an island nation — and one very proud of its independence and self-assurance.
“It’s time to have a totally new relationship with our friends and partners across the Channel,” Johnson said. “It’s time to speak up for democracy, and hundreds of millions of people around Europe agree with us. It’s time to break away from the failing and dysfunctional EU system.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Britain goes to the polls today after a campaign that has been both heated and complicated.
The stakes are high as the vote is final — unlike an election, in which the results can be reversed in the next term. However, the vote is not legally binding and the British parliament would have to vote to repeal the law that brought Britain into the EU in the first place.
A vote to leave would invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which allows a member state to withdraw. The article has never been invoked and it would trigger a period of uncertainty.
Much of the debate has hinged on the economy. Many fear a vote to leave would undermine London’s position as the world’s pre-eminent financial center and damage an industry that underpins the British economy.
Leaders of about half of Britain’s largest companies made a last-ditch appeal to their employees to vote for remaining in the EU. In a letter to the Times yesterday, 1,285 business leaders — include representatives of half of the FTSE 100 businesses — argued that a vote to leave would hurt the economy.
Similar letters have been released in the course of the acrimonious campaign, but yesterday’s letter is clearly meant to make the 1.75 million people employed by the signatories think twice about their vote.
The betting markets solidly stood by the “remain” side.
The Betfair exchange said remain is now at 76 percent probability. About 80 percent of the £1 million (US$1.48 million) placed during and after a BBC debate on Tuesday was on “remain,” the exchange said in a statement.
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