Nation split as EU referendum rivalry returns
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THE campaign to decide Britain’s membership of the European Union restarted yesterday after a three-day hiatus following the killing of lawmaker Jo Cox, with Prime Minister David Cameron warning Britons they faced an “existential choice” on Thursday.
Campaigning activities ahead of the June 23 EU referendum resumed with two opinion polls showing the “Remain” camp recovering some momentum, although the overall picture remained one of an evenly split electorate.
With just a few days left until the ballot, the rival campaigns returned with a raft of interviews and articles in Sunday’s newspapers, covering the familiar immigration versus economy debate that has defined the campaign so far.
Cameron, who leads the campaign to stay in the EU, urged voters to consider the economic impact of leaving the 28-member bloc.
“We face an existential choice on Thursday,” he wrote in the Sunday Telegraph. “So ask yourself: have I really heard anything — anything at all — to convince me that leaving would be the best thing for the economic security of my family?”
Michael Gove, a senior spokesman for the rival “Leave” campaign, said leaving would actually improve Britain’s economic position.
Praise for lawmaker
“I can’t foretell the future but I don’t believe that the act of leaving the European Union would make our economic position worse, I think it would make it better,” he said in an interview with the same newspaper.
Both men praised Labour Party lawmaker Cox, an ardent supporter of EU membership, who was shot and stabbed in the street in her electoral district in northern England last Thursday.
Her alleged killer, 52-year-old Thomas Mair, shouted “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain,” when he appeared in court on Saturday.
Prayers were said for Cox, a 41-year-old mother of two, at a church service yesterday less than a kilometer away from the scene of her murder in the northern English village of Birstall. Cox was stabbed and shot in an attack that shocked the country, the first murder of a sitting British lawmaker since 1990.
“Her humanity was powerful and compelling and we would do well to recognise her as an amazing example: a 21st century Good Samaritan,” Reverend Paul Knight said at the church service.
“Leave” campaigner Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence party, appeared to indicate he thought Cox’s killing had an adverse effect on the campaign.
“It has an impact on the campaign for everybody,” he told ITV’s “Peston on Sunday” show. “We did have momentum until this terrible tragedy.”
Reversal of 3-point lead
The only opinion poll carried out since the killing showed support for “In” at 45 percent ahead of “Out” on 42 percent — a reversal of the three-point lead that the pollster, Survation, showed for “Out” in a poll conducted last Wednesday.
Two other polls published on Saturday showed the “Remain” campaign had regained its lead over “Leave,” while another showed the two camps running neck and neck.
But most of these surveys were carried out before Thursday’s attack.
“We are now in the final week of the referendum campaign and the swing back towards the status quo appears to be in full force,” said Anthony Wells, a director with polling firm YouGov.
“I hope, because of the tragic death of Jo, we can have a less divisive political debate in our country and particularly in the last few days of this referendum,” Finance Minister George Osborne, a leading “Remain” campaigner, told “Peston on Sunday.”
Immigration, one of the public’s chief concerns, has proved to be the most inflammatory issue in the campaign, tapping into fears that EU freedom of movement threatens national security and puts pressure on public services.
But neither side showed signs of backing away from their criticism of each other on the issue.
Osborne called a poster unveiled last week by “Leave” campaigners showing a line of refugees under the slogan “Breaking Point” as “disgusting and vile” and reminiscent of literature used in the 1930s.
But Farage, pictured in front of the poster, said the EU had failed to control immigration properly and compromised safety in Europe by allowing in extremists who wanted to attack Western states.
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