English edition of Asharq Al-Awsat – the world’s premier pan-Arab daily.
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Whitehall officials told David Cameron told four years ago that it was “impossible” for the Government to meet its immigration promises while Britain remained in the European Union, the Prime Minister’s former policy guru has said.
The death of a pro-Europe lawmaker in a gun and knife attack last week may have sapped some of the momentum of campaigners fighting to leave the 28-nation bloc in Thursday’s vote.
Nigel Farage yesterday accused the Remain camp of trying to take advantage of Mrs Cox’s death.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, supposedly campaigning on the Remain side, has hardly said anything at all and Mr Farage capped his absurd campaign with a new poster depicting a long queue of migrants at the borders of the European Union with the caption “Breaking Point”.
Warsi said moderate voices in the “leave” campaign had been drowned out by xenophobia and hatred.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at online trading company Gain Capital, said “the pause in the campaign seems to have lent crucial support to team ‘remain'”. Opponents said the statement outside the prime minister’s residence betrayed Cameron’s worry that the referendum he called to settle Britain’s place in Europe could end with the country walking away from the bloc. The pound is on track for its largest one-day rise in seven years since 15 October 2009. In stock markets, the FTSE 100 was up 2.6 percent and other indexes around the world were just as buoyant, with Germany’s DAX 3.1 percent higher.
The first string of opinion polls following the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox apparently in the name of “Freedom for Britain” or “Britain First” have now swung markedly in REMAINs favour, reversing an earlier LEAVE polls lead with REMAIN now marginally ahead on 45% against LEAVE on 42% with 13% Don’t Knows as the following list of recent polls illustrates that until the killing of Jo Cox LEAVE had been in the lead but now have LOST that lead due to the actions of a radicalised right-wing extremist. “I have my own opinion on this matter, I can not talk about the result yet – no one knows about the result yet, I think it is 50-50 with a certain margin of error”.
The general secretary of GMB, one of Britain’s biggest unions, said workers from across the economy had described their anxiety at the impact of a Brexit vote on jobs and their rights as employees. “It could be revulsion about her murder”.
The probability of a “Remain” vote implied by Betfair betting odds rose to 72 per cent on Monday, up from a range between 60 and 67 per cent on Friday.
However, the shifts also suggest that turnover will be critical in the vote, as supporters of “leave” are seen as being more committed than those of “remain”. Boris Johnson, the other main contender and chief Brexiteer, has also emerged badly, seen as an unprincipled political opportunist and an oaf (which he is not – in fact there is a very keen brain underneath that matt of thatch). If the weather continues as it is today, it will be very close indeed, ” Page said. “I think that’s what the market is reacting to”.
Steve Hilton, a former Cameron adviser who now backs a “leave” vote, said Cameron had been “wheeled out by rather panicky spin doctors” to appeal for votes.
“That “breaking point” poster really was – for me – the breaking point to say, ‘I can’t go on supporting this, ‘” she told the Times. “Arron Banks, UKIP’s major donor, and Farage are quite openly talking about what they’ll do after the referendum in terms of starting a new UKIP-esque movement out of the existing party and what form that’ll take”, says Waterson. The poster infuriated Warsi, one of the most prominent Muslim politicians in the country.
But her defection was greeted with bemusement by Leave campaigners, who said they were not aware that she had ever been a Brexit supporter.
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Auto manufacturer Nissan has also criticized the official “leave” campaign for placing its logo on a leaflet urging voters to leave the European Union, a decision that Nissan does not support.
