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EU referendum live: Cameron and Corbyn make case for Remain – separately EU referendum live: Cameron and Corbyn make case for Remain – separately
(35 minutes later)
10.03am BST 10.39am BST
10:03 10:39
Jeremy Corbyn's speech The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg gets called.
Here is the scene at the Institute of Engineering Technology where Jeremy Corbyn is about to deliver his EU speech. She gets hissed by some in the audience. Corbyn urges people to stop.
9.56am BST Q: This morning the GMB general secretary Tim Roache said you are failing to get your message across. Is he right?
09:56 Corbyn says he is speaking to a GMB event on Sunday. He is getting his message out, he says. He says he is campaigning to extend and defend workers’ rights. He says it is the government’s austerity policies that are causing problems.
Vote Leave poll shows people think immigration has had a bad impact on many aspects of UK life He says people should not blame migrants. It is unscrupulous employers who are to blame, he says. He says he will keep going on about the posting of workers directive. (See 10.21am.)
Vote Leave has also released some ICM polling about the how people view the impact of immigration on various aspects of British life. 10.36am BST
The bad new for David Cameron is that people think, in almost every aspect of life, immigration has had a negative effect. 10:36
The good news for him is that the one exception is the economy as a whole - which is probably by far the most important category. On this measure people still think immigration has had a negative effect, but the picture is much more mixed. Q: [From Sky] Are you in danger of muddying the waters by attacking the Remain camp hype?
Here are the figures. Corbyn says he does not accept that. He is putting a serious case for staying in the EU, he says.
People were asked: Do you think the amount of immigration from EU countries over the last 10 years has been - 10.36am BST
For the UK 10:36
Good: 26% Corbyn's Q&A
Bad: 49% Corbyn is now taking questions.
Neither: 19% Q: [From ITV’s Chris Ship] If Labour voters are key to winning the referendum, why do only half of them know the Labour party supports Remain. And can you say hand on heart you have campaigned as hard as you can for Remain?
Net: -23 Corbyn says it is partly down to the media, and how they report the Labour party.
For the NHS This gets a loud cheer from the Labour activists in the audience.
Good: 19% He says he has done a great deal of campaigning. There are no no-go areas for his campaign, he says. He says come the vote no one will be in any doubt what Labour’s views are.
Bad: 55% 10.33am BST
Neither: 20% 10:33
Net: -36 Corbyn is getting a standing ovation.
For schools 10.32am BST
Good: 11% 10:32
Bad: 58% Corbyn is now wrapping up.
Neither: 23% There is an overwhelming case to remain and reform so that we build on the best that Europe has achieved.
Net: -47 But that will only happen if we elect a Labour government, committed to engaging with our allies to deliver real improvements in the lives of the people of our country.
For Housing That is why we established the Labour In campaign, because we have a distinct agenda, a vision to make Britain better and fairer for everyone, by engaging with our neighbours.
Good: 7% 10.32am BST
Bad: 67% 10:32
Neither: 18% Corbyn says Labour would re-establish the migrant impact fund
Net: -60 Corbyn turns to immigration, and he says Labour would re-establish the migrant impact fund.
For the UK economy On migration, we cannot deny the inevitable; we live in a smaller world. Most of us in Britain know someone who has studied, worked or retired abroad. We have reciprocal arrangements with the European Union. Our citizens, well over one million of them, live in other EU countries and EU citizens come to live and work here.
Good: 30% But it is not that simple, I’ve already talked about how some industries are affected by the undercutting of wages and the action that can be taken to tackle that. But some communities can change dramatically and rapidly and that can be disconcerting for some people. That doesn’t make them Little Englanders, xenophobes or racists. More people living in an area can put real pressure on local services like GPs surgeries, schools and housing.
Bad: 36% This isn’t the fault of migrants. It’s a failure of government. The coalition government in 2010 abolished the Migrant Impact Fund; a national fund to manage the short term impacts of migration on local communities. By abolishing it, David Cameron’s Coalition undermined the proper preparation and investment that communities need to adapt.
Neither: 25% We are clear, we would restore such a fund.
Net: -6 10.29am BST
For Jobs and wages 10:29
Good: 17% Corbyn on TTIP
Bad: 50% I’ve just received the text of Corbyn’s speech. Here is the passage on TTIP in full.
Neither: 26% Many thousands of people have written to me, with their concerns about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (or T-TIP) the deal being negotiated, largely in secret, between the US and the EU.
Net: -33 Many people are concerned rightly, that it could open up public services to further privatisation – and make privatisation effectively irreversible. Others are concerned about any potential watering down of consumer rights, food safety standards, rights at work or environmental protections and the facility for corporations to sue national governments if regulations impinged on their profits.
For national security I share those concerns.
Good: 11% A few weeks ago the French President, Francois Hollande, said he would veto the deal as it stands and to become law any deal would have to be ratified by each member state. So today we give this pledge, as it stands, we too would reject TTIP – and veto it in government.
Bad: 54% And there is a challenge to the prime minister, if it’s not good enough for France; it’s not good enough for Britain either.
Neither: 27% David Cameron make clear now that if Britain votes to remain this month you will block any TTIP trade treaty that threatens our public services, our consumer and employment rights and that hands over power to giant corporations to override democratically elected governments.
Net: -43 10.27am BST
9.41am BST 10:27
09:41 Corbyn says other EU countries have done better at protecting industries like the steel industry.
Vote Leave pose 5 key questions for Cameron on immigration But he says he thinks EU rules are too restrictive.
Today the EU referendum campaign amounts to combat by “five key questions”. He urges the UK government to act rapidly to protect the Port Talbot steelworks.
Britain Stronger in Europe have posted their “five key questions” for Leave in the form of a letter jointly signed by George Osborne, the Conservative chancellor, and Alistair Darling, his Labour predecessor. Claire posted an extract from the letter, with the five questions, at 8.02am. All the questions cover trade and the economy. And he says Labour wants to bring the railways into public ownership.
Vote Leave have got their own five questions for Remain. They are all on the subject of immigration, and Vote Leave has posed them in a news release, saying they are “the questions David Cameron must now answer”. 10.24am BST
Here they are: 10:24
1 - Will you now admit that your EU renegotiation did nothing to limit the ‘free movement of people’ which is what most voters want? Corbyn says Labour opposed to TTIP “as it stands” and would veto it if it were in government
2 - Will you now admit that your EU renegotiation will do nothing to limit pressures on hospital waiting times, class sizes or the housing crisis in this country? Corbyn says many people are concerned about the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, TTIP, the proposed EU-US trade deal.
3 - You promised to ensure that economic migrants from the EU would have a job offer before they came here. Why have you given up on that pledge? He says he has read and thought a great deal about this, and that he shares all the concerns raised.
4 - The British people are extremely worried about the possibility of Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey joining the EU - so why are you handing over £2 billion of taxpayers’ money to these countries? Do you still want to ‘pave the road from Ankara to Brussels’? He says the French president has also expressed concerns about it.
5 - Why do you want EU judges to be in control of which criminals we can and cannot deport? He says Labour would reject TTIP “as it stands” and veto it if he were in government.
Commenting on this, Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative former work and pensions secretary, said: He challenges Cameron to say too that he would block TTIP if it threatened public services.
When I was in government the prime minister wanted to impose limits on free movement of people from the EU, but sadly he failed. He now needs to set out how he plans to limit pressures on our NHS, schools and the housing crisis we face. 10.22am BST
If we vote to stay in, this will get worse when Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey join the EU. British taxpayers are paying them £2 billion to join the EU despite not supporting this policy. How can he justify ignoring the wishes of the people? 10:22
Updated Corbyn says he recently held talks with Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister.
at 10.01am BST The Greeks want to stay in the EU, but in a reformed EU, he says.
9.20am BST 10.21am BST
09:20 10:21
Patrick Minford, professor of applied economics at Cardiff Business School and co-chairman of Economists for Brexit, was on the Today programme with Alistair Darling. He said that if the UK left the EU, tariffs would be imposed on British goods being sold to the EU. But he claimed this would be worth it because the UK would no longer be obliged to impose EU-determined tariffs on the goods it buys from outside the EU. Corbyn says it is not migrants who undercut wages but unscrupulous employers
Asked if tariffs would be imposed on British products being sold into EU markets, he replied: Corbyn says Labour wants the EU to reform.
There certainly would. And that is the whole point about leaving the EU. We face their external tariffs. But we don’t have to put all their external tariffs on the rest of the world. We trade freely with the rest of the world. And what happens is that our exporters now trade, as America does and as Japan does with the EU, facing their external tariffs. And we then get rid of the EU protectionism on all the stuff we buy from the rest of the world, which is an enormous benefit. He says there has to be a humanitarian response to the refugee crisis.
This is from Lucy Thomas, deputy director of Britain Stronger in Europe. He says the EU should use its collective negotiating power “to stop corporations taking consumers to the cleaners”.
Patrick Minford #Brexit economist admits UK would face the EU's external tariffs - that means 10% on cars #StrongerIn #r4today He says he recently asked Cameron at PMQs to reform the posting of workers directive. This would stop workers being sent abroad, and being paid less than the rate paid locally. The government must back this, he says. Abuses are rare, but this loophole only benefits unscrupulous employers, he says.
9.07am BST He says it is not migrants that undercut wages, but unscrupulous employers. Migrant workers are often victims of the worst exploitation, he says.
09:07
Class, the leftwing, union-backed thinktank, has published a series of essays on the subject, Does the EU work for working class people?
Class is not taking a position on the EU referendum but its director, Faiza Shaheen said:
There is a class division on Brexit, with the working class largely in favour of the UK leaving the EU and those in highly paid in professions generally wanting to stay in. And yet the question of what material effects the EU has had upon working class people’s lives has been largely absent. It is imperative that these issues are debated so that working class people can make an informed decision when casting their vote.
8.57am BST
08:57
Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor, told the Today programme that he agreed with the GMB general secretary Tim Roache about the need for Labour to be more explicit about the benefits of immigration. Darling said:
I think that the GMB is quite right. There are many aspects of this referendum, protection of workers’ rights, protection of British industry.
But equally, in relation to immigration, it’s an issue that must be discussed. That’s why I’m asking why, if the Leave campaign say we should be like Norway or Switzerland, will they not then accept that part of the deal there is they have to accept free movement of people?
8.50am BST
08:50
Liam Fox to warn green belt at risk from mass immigration
Andrew Sparrow
Good Morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow and I’m taking over from Claire.
Liam Fox, the Conservative former defence secretary, is giving a speech this morning at the Vote Leave HQ entitled “Memories of Green? The Cost of Uncontrolled Migration.”
According to the excerpts sent out in advance, he will argue that mass migration is making it harder for young people to buy a home.
Most new immigrants move into the private rented sector which has grown as the immigrant population has grown. Competition for rented accommodation obliges all those in the private rented sector to pay high rents which take a large share of income and makes saving to buy a home even harder.
These resulting high rents and a shortage of housing make it much more difficult for young people to set up home on their own so they have to spend more time in house shares or with their parents.
And he will argue that the green belt is at risk too.
A constant unchecked flow of migration will inevitably result in more of our open spaces and natural greenery being turned over to housing.
8.24am BST
08:24
Ukip MEP Roger Helmer adds a new dimension to the debate, pointing out that he and his fellow British MEPs would certainly be among any job casualties if the UK votes to leave the EU:
Osborne asks how many UK jobs will be lost on Brexit? Seventy-four, George. Including mine.
8.08am BST
08:08
Labour MP Mary Creagh has spoken on the Today programme about concerns that the party’s pro-EU message is not getting through to voters:
The danger is of leaders making a speech and thinking that everybody has heard it … We learned that lesson last year in the election campaign.
I think we need to be treating this referendum as if it was a general election campaign and having everybody out on the doorstep.
It’s important that we help people understand what this means for working people.
Updated
at 8.26am BST
8.02am BST
08:02
George Osborne and Alistair Darling – “the latest unlikely cross-party collaboration coordinated by the Stronger In campaign”, says Guardian political editor Heather Stewart – are sharing not only a platform but a letter to Vote Leave with a list of questions:
What specific trading relationship will the UK have with the EU if we leave?
What guarantees do you have there will be no new tariffs imposed on goods traded between the UK and EU?
British businesses currently benefit from trade deals with 53 countries as a result of EU membership. Why would you expect to negotiate exactly the same terms and how long would it take to conclude these 53 negotiations?
What public spending would you cut and which taxes would you raise to fill this black hole [caused by Brexit]?
Can you assure the British public there would be no job losses resulting from the uncertainty of a vote to leave?
7.45am BST
07:45
Today will be dominated by the party leaders, with Jeremy Corbyn striking first in a speech this morning.
With criticism from GMB general secretary Tim Roache that he needs to be “bolder and braver”, Corbyn is to set out why Labour is “overwhelmingly for staying in”.
Labour's @MaryCreaghMP tells @BBCr4today "I've had emails from my constituents saying 'I'm a Labour voter but what's the Labour position?"
And David Cameron remains the Conservative PM of choice for Labour shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith:
Owen Smith says he'd rather Cameron was PM than Boris, Patel or IDS. 'He's not the worst of the Tories' #r4today
7.37am BST
07:37
Michael Gove – who won’t get his head-to-head debate with David Cameron tonight, but will get his own Sky News Q&A tomorrow – argues today that as justice secretary he has been “powerless” to stop terror suspects entering Britain.
The Telegraph reports that in an essay for Portland Communications (which doesn’t appear to be online yet), Gove says:
As justice secretary, I have experienced the frustration at our inability to refuse entry to those with a criminal record and even some who are suspected of terrorist links.
According to the Telegraph:
Gove also said that Mr Cameron’s campaign is ‘stoking up Project Fear’ and said they would be surprised by the prevailing ‘calm and stability’ and ‘sense of optimism’ in the event of a Brexit vote.
That’s an early lead for those with “Project Fear” on their EU campaign bingo cards.
7.26am BST
07:26
There’s more from Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, who has warned that the consequences of the UK voting to leave the EU would be “very negative”.
Rajoy was speaking to Spanish news agency EFE; I’ve taken the quotes from Press Association.
Rajoy said leaving the UK would be:
negative for everybody, for the United Kingdom, for Spain, and for the European Union.
But, above all, it would be very negative for British citizens: the European Union is based, ever since its foundation, on the principles of freedom of movement of people, goods, services, and capitals.
Leaving the European Union would mean that British citizens would lose their right to move freely, work and do business within the largest economic area, the largest market in the world.
Over 100.000 Spanish citizens work and live in the United Kingdom. Over 400.000 British citizens work and live in Spain.
If the United Kingdom left the European Union, it would be very negative for everyone and from every perspective.
6.55am BST
06:55
Morning briefing
Claire Phipps
Good morning and welcome to day three of our daily EU referendum coverage. I’ll be launching the morning briefing to set you up for the day ahead and steering the live blog each morning until Andrew Sparrow takes his seat. Do come and chat in the comments below or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps.
The big picture
Today sees both David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn wheeled out for big set pieces: the opposition leader makes a speech this morning on why Labour is “overwhelmingly for staying in” (a useful reminder for some supporters), while the prime minister hits Sky News this evening for an interview and Q&A.
Cameron will be fresh from a visit to the Rainham Marshes nature reserve in Essex, where he’ll say that the RSPB and WWF are backing Remain to protect UK wildlife. Expect wellies – as essential to any political campaign as a hard-hat and hi-vis jacket.
Corbyn, in a speech at the Institute of Engineering Technology this morning, will say that Brexit would be a “disaster” threatening the rights of British workers, such as paid holiday and maternity leave.
He’ll also reiterate his opposition to sharing a platform with the prime minister (as London mayor Sadiq Khan did in Roehampton a few days ago) and other pro-Remain Tories, saying:
The threat to the British people is not the European Union – it is a Conservative government here in Britain, seeking to undermine the good things we have achieved in Europe and resisting changes that would benefit the ordinary people of Britain.
A vote to leave means a Conservative government would then be in charge of negotiating Britain’s exit. Everything they have done as a government so far means we could not rely on them to protect the workplace rights that millions rely on.
Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB a Corbyn backer, told the Guardian the Labour leader was being “mealy mouthed” about the referendum and needed to be “bolder and braver” on the immigration issue:
These people don’t come here to sit on their backsides and claim benefits, they come here to work … It’s all right when people’s children are being taught by economic migrants, or when people’s parents are being looked after in hospital by economic migrants.
Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, is the latest European leader to weigh in, hot on the heels of the intervention by Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, on Wednesday. Rajoy said Brexit would be
negative for everybody, for the United Kingdom, for Spain, and for the European Union …
Over 100,000 Spanish citizens work and live in the United Kingdom. Over 400,000 British citizens work and live in Spain. If the United Kingdom left the European Union, it would be very negative for everyone and from every perspective.
You should also know:
Poll position
Sky News, hosting tonight’s questioning of Cameron, reports it has been shown internal polling by Vote Leave and ICM in which:
All of which might be a hint about the line of questioning to expect this evening.
Separately, this by YouGov’s Anthony Wells on why there won’t be official exit polls on referendum day – and why those private polls reportedly commissioned by hedge funds might not be of much use – is an interesting read.
Diary
Talking point
Cameron’s refusal to face his Tory opponents means tonight’s Sky News Q&A isn’t the only stretched-out debate to be coming to our screens. A full 24 hours will separate the prime minister’s appearance tonight from the snappy comebacks of Out campaigner – and Conservative Cabinet minister – Michael Gove.
Nigel Farage will make it on to the same programme as Cameron on 7 June for ITV’s “debate”, but the two men won’t appear on-screen together. And two BBC Question Time specials – again featuring Cameron and Gove – are four days apart.
(Do read Jane Martinson on the shenanigans behind the TV non-debates.)
It all comes as Boris Johnson – fresh from setting out a post-Brexit immigration policy – insisted he was “not forming an alternative government”, despite the fact the policy was set out by Johnson (along with Gove and Priti Patel) as a pledge rather than merely an option for whoever might find themselves as prime minister after 23 June.
George Eaton in the New Statesman argues that some in the Brexit camp certainly view the referendum as a chance to oust Cameron – but also claims a number of MPs “had informed the chief whip that they would resign the Conservative whip if Gove was made deputy prime minister”.
Read these
Juliet Samuel in the Telegraph asks why the Brexiteers want to copy the Australian points system for immigrants:
A statement released by the Brexit campaign suggested repeatedly that immigration would be lower if we left the EU and adopted such a system, reducing the strain on hospitals, schools and workers who face intense competition for jobs from migrants. There is no guarantee of that …
But more important … is the principle at the centre of Australia’s system: they decide how it works. And for all the details of the policy, which the Brexiteers did not include in their statement, it boils down to one thing: our immigration policy would be decided here and not abroad. So if the British public wants a more restrictive immigration policy, it will be able to vote for a government that can deliver one. That is not possible at the moment.
Latika Bourke, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says the proposals could also make it easier for Australians to move to the UK, according to Conservative MEP and Leave campaigner Daniel Hannan:
People with Australian passports are kicked out at the expiry of two years, or less now if they don’t earn enough money in order to free up unlimited space for people who may have no connection to this country whatsoever,’ Mr Hannan told Fairfax Media after a public rally in Hammersmith.
‘I think that’s immoral, I also think it makes no economic sense,’ he said.
(This also contains the interesting nugget that there are approximately 87,000 Australians living in the UK eligible to vote in the referendum.)
Steven Erlanger in the New York Times says the referendum is “becoming as divisive and nasty as the one in Scotland” and talks to Douglas Alexander, the former Labour MP ousted in the 2015 general election, and now a campaigner for Remain:
First, [Alexander] said, ‘psychology matters more than psephology’ – ignore the polls, at least until the very end. Both telephone and internet polls are flawed when assessing support for referendums, because they are so rare, and what matters will be ‘the overriding question in people’s minds as they vote’.
So it will be vital to manage the news cycle in the last 10 days, to shape the anxieties and aspirations of voters. In Scotland, opponents of independence focused on the economic risks and the inability of the ‘yes’ side to answer crucial questions about currency and the sustainability of the oil-based economy.
Now, both sides are pushing fear.
On the issue of the nastiness or otherwise of the current debate, Wednesday’s Opinion live blog with readers is an illuminating guide.
Baffling claim of the day
The Daily Mail says Google has been “accused of burying results for [a] popular pro-Brexit website” in the little-traversed wilderness of the second page of search results. The site – EUReferendum.com – has been demoted, according to founder Richard North, and now comes behind such little-known sources as the BBC, Telegraph and the Guardian, as well as government information sites, in searches for “EU referendum”.
Celebrity endorsement of the day
A cavalcade of European cultural figures – including novelist Elena Ferrante, actors Julie Delpy, Isabella Rossellini and Stellan Skarsgård, illustrator Axel Scheffler (who also drew the cover art), singers Nana Mouskouri and Björn Ulvaeus, and, um, footballs managers Arsène Wenger and Gérard Houllier – have written to the Times Literary Supplement asking Britain to “please stay”:
We would like to express how very much we value having the United Kingdom in the European Union. It is not just treaties that join us to your country, but bonds of admiration and affection. All of us hope that you will vote to renew them. Britain, please stay.
The day in a tweet
3 weeks still to go. God. Many complained vehemently that a mere 7 weeks of referendum campaigning after May elections was rudely short.
If today were a song ...
It would be Don’t Stand So Close to Me. Sung by the Police. But also by David Cameron to Michael Gove. And Jeremy Corbyn to David Cameron. And pretty much everyone to Nigel Farage.
And another thing
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