Britons evenly split as the Brexit referendum campaign kicks off
Print Edition
ACTIVISTS hit the streets yesterday for the first official day of campaigning over Britain’s “Brexit” referendum, firing the starting pistol on a tense 10-week battle over Britain’s future in Europe.
Opinion polls suggest the British public is evenly split ahead of the June 23 vote, which could bring down Prime Minister David Cameron and plunge one of the world’s leading economies into uncertainty.
The referendum — Britons’ first direct say on the divisive issue of Europe in more than 40 years — is also being nervously watched in Washington and Brussels, where a “Brexit” would add to a long list of European Union crises.
“We absolutely think we’re going to win it,” Peter Reeve, a spokesman for the UK Independence Party, said as he campaigned in Peterborough — a market town in eastern England where an influx of Eastern European workers has angered many locals.
Charismatic London mayor Boris Johnson will lead a “Brexit blitz” with rallies where he will try to persuade Britons that they could thrive if cut free from EU red tape.
Johnson has compared leaving the bloc to escaping from prison, saying the referendum was “like the jailer has accidentally left the door of the jail open and people can see the sunlit lands beyond.”
In the “Remain” corner is Cameron, who says Britain has a “special status” within the EU thanks to a renegotiation he sealed in February, and that the country will be richer and stronger if it stays in.
Former finance minister Alistair Darling accused Brexit backers in a speech yesterday of “playing with fire” and offering “Project Fantasy.”
The “Remain” and “Leave” camps are now level on 50 percent support, according to a poll of polls run by academics at the What UK Thinks project, with around one fifth of voters undecided.
Both camps planned dozens of events across Britain to launch their campaigns, mobilizing volunteers to hand out leaflets in a bid to win over fellow Britons.
The “Remain” camp can also count on the support of US President Barack Obama, who will head to London next week to join an international chorus of leaders imploring Britain not to abandon the European Union.
Foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes said the president would be “very straightforward and candid ... as to why the US believes that it is good for the UK to remain.”
Cameron is confident of winning the poll, despite deep divisions within his Conservative party on Europe.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
