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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2016/jun/09/eu-referendum-live-wollaston-remain-vote-leave-sturgeon-johnson
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| EU referendum live: Major and Blair warn of Northern Ireland Brexit fate | EU referendum live: Major and Blair warn of Northern Ireland Brexit fate |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 3.16pm BST | |
| 15:16 | |
| Major and Blair - Key quotes | |
| Here are the key quotes and news lines from Sir John Major and Tony Blair’s joint appearance in Northern Ireland earlier. | |
| Sir John Major | |
| I say, without a shadow of doubt in my mind, that the wrong outcome on June the 23rd will affect our union, and will jeopardise that unity. Because the plain uncomfortable truth is that the unity of the United Kingdom itself is on the ballot paper in two weeks’ time ... | |
| If Scotland votes in the referendum to stay in the European Union but the UK as a whole chooses to leave, there is a serious risk of a new referendum. Not straight away, perhaps, but ultimately, nationalist pressure for another shot at leaving the UK in Scotland could prove to be uncontrollable and politically irresistible. | |
| And, in those circumstances, if the UK was outside the European Union, I can well envisage a different result in that referendum. | |
| And though I have no doubt, whatever happens, that those relations between the UK and Ireland will remain cordial, I do worry about the prospect of a British exit. Which would leave Ireland on the other side of the table in a new negotiation between Britain and 27 other European Union nations. | |
| If that happens, it would have a wholly negative effect on the relationship between our two countries. | |
| I’m working class. I come from Brixton. I lived there at a time of mass immigration. My family lived in two rooms in a multi-occupied and, from time to time, multi-racial house. So I’m not part of any elite. And of course there are people across Europe who are elite. But there are millions, 500m people, who are in the EU who are strong supporters of it. This is part of the nonsense that people are being fed, that Europe is only for the elite ... | |
| Europe is not for the elite; it’s for you. It’s for your generation. Tony and I aren’t going to be here in due course. But you are. It is your future that we are voting on on 23. Don’t go back to what our past was. Look ahead to your future and vote to stay in. | |
| From around the world as a whole it is overwhelmingly likely - you can’t put a figure on it, you can’t say how quickly it will happen - that there will be a much smaller investment in every part of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. And that investment isn’t abstract. It’s jobs. | |
| People tend to regard prosperity as something that one ought not really to talk about. But if you have ever lived in a position where you could not pay the bills at the end of the week, you understand that prosperity actually matters. Prosperity isn’t just a question of not being able to pay the bills. It’s a security of mind. And if you have ever been in a position where you cannot do that, I promise you, it never, ever leaves you. | |
| Tony Blair | |
| If we, as the UK, vote to leave, we’re then in a new, unique situation. The Republic of Ireland remains in the European Union. The UK leaves the European Union. So then what happens to the common travel area? | |
| Now the Leave people say it would just stay, but when you go into the detail, you realise how difficult that is if not impossible because of course, if the UK were to leave the European Union, the border with the Republic becomes the border of the European Union. | |
| So what that would mean by the way, because of course, there were still be the free movement of people within the European Union including the Republic of Ireland with the rest of Europe, if you then retain the common travel area, it means someone from any part of Europe can come to the south and then come to the North and there are no obviously border checks within the UK. So you couldn’t possibly have such a policy because if you did have such a policy it would make a nonsense of their entire argument for leaving which is all to do with the free movement of people within the European Union. | |
| So what you would actually have to do is end up either having border controls and custom checks on the border between North and South, the Republic of Ireland and the UK, and think of those hundreds of miles of border, think of the constant interchange of people, think of the commerce, the goods and services which are freely traded across that line, the problems of doing that are absolutely immense but the only alternative would then be to have, between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK which would plainly be unacceptable as well. | |
| He said the inability of Leave campaigners to have answers to questions like this was “unforgivably irresponsible”. | |
| The Leave campaign has consistently ignored the impact of Leave on the UK. They ignore in particular the impact economically, socially, politically on Northern Ireland, and that is because their ideological fixation with leaving Europe is more important to them than the clear disadvantage Northern Ireland would suffer if we left and the consequent damage to the UK as a whole. | |
| We should always distrust those who put ideology before such practical considerations because those who pay the price of the ideology are not those who are advocating it. | |
| Around the world people are coming together. Wherever you go, whether it’s the Far East or central Asia or South America, people are trying to come together. And for us now to break apart from a set of relationships that have grown up over four decades, where we literally are in a situation where half of what we trade, we trade with the rest of Europe, where we have these fundamental relationships, not just for our economy but for our strategic position in the world, to break this apart is not just, for all the reasons we’ve given, wrong for us. It goes against the grain of the future. The future is not about countries breaking apart their alliances. The future is about countries coming together. | |
| The case for staying, for remaining, is not a case about just how we manage today’s world. It is about how we manage tomorrow’s world as well, how our future is governed, and how opportunity comes to us as people in that future. It is an uncertain and insecure future. But leaving the European Union is about the worst thing we could do to prepare ourselves for that future properly. That’s why, in my view, we really should remain. | |
| 2.25pm BST | 2.25pm BST |
| 14:25 | 14:25 |
| Lunchtime summary | Lunchtime summary |
| Sad that No10 were 1st to know about Woolaston's change of heart' Her decision to leave rings false - deliberately staged and political | Sad that No10 were 1st to know about Woolaston's change of heart' Her decision to leave rings false - deliberately staged and political |
| No10 bombarding Remain waverers with calls and texts begging not to change mind as they had a major defection. Desperate stuff. #VoteLeave | No10 bombarding Remain waverers with calls and texts begging not to change mind as they had a major defection. Desperate stuff. #VoteLeave |
| If No10 hadn't known first easier to buy Woolaston's decision was about beliefIt's 100% playing the game she pretends to despise #VoteLeave | If No10 hadn't known first easier to buy Woolaston's decision was about beliefIt's 100% playing the game she pretends to despise #VoteLeave |
| This is yet another report from a former supporter of the Euro masquerading as new research that is simply recycling and repackaging previous reports. That means the same dodgy assumptions of establishment economists and the Treasury underpin the findings - it is the same people who predicted the world would end if we did not join the euro. | This is yet another report from a former supporter of the Euro masquerading as new research that is simply recycling and repackaging previous reports. That means the same dodgy assumptions of establishment economists and the Treasury underpin the findings - it is the same people who predicted the world would end if we did not join the euro. |
| 2.01pm BST | 2.01pm BST |
| 14:01 | 14:01 |
| No 10 says move to extend voter registration deadline cannot be challenged in court | No 10 says move to extend voter registration deadline cannot be challenged in court |
| Rajeev Syal | Rajeev Syal |
| Downing Street has said that Leave.EU has no hope of challenging the decision to extend the voter registration deadline in the courts. (See 10.16am.) It also dismissed claims this was a way of helping Remain voters to register. | Downing Street has said that Leave.EU has no hope of challenging the decision to extend the voter registration deadline in the courts. (See 10.16am.) It also dismissed claims this was a way of helping Remain voters to register. |
| The prime minister’s spokeswoman said: | The prime minister’s spokeswoman said: |
| The government position is clear - that this is a legally watertight approach. This isn’t about how people may vote in the referendum. There is no way of knowing at registration how people intend to vote. This is about the government providing a service to enable people to exercise their democratic right. We had problems with that service we want to rectify and address it. | The government position is clear - that this is a legally watertight approach. This isn’t about how people may vote in the referendum. There is no way of knowing at registration how people intend to vote. This is about the government providing a service to enable people to exercise their democratic right. We had problems with that service we want to rectify and address it. |
| This is an important choice facing people and if they haven’t registered to vote, then we are making sure we deal with the service so that those who want to can. | This is an important choice facing people and if they haven’t registered to vote, then we are making sure we deal with the service so that those who want to can. |
| 1.56pm BST | 1.56pm BST |
| 13:56 | 13:56 |
| British embassy in Ankara says it is working to help Turkey join the EU | British embassy in Ankara says it is working to help Turkey join the EU |
| In his interview with Andrew Neil last night, George Osborne, the chancellor, insisted that Turkey would not be joining the EU. | In his interview with Andrew Neil last night, George Osborne, the chancellor, insisted that Turkey would not be joining the EU. |
| But Leave.EU points out that the British embassy in Ankara says on its website that it has a team working on “a wide range of issues including Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, the economy, energy policy and international security”. | But Leave.EU points out that the British embassy in Ankara says on its website that it has a team working on “a wide range of issues including Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, the economy, energy policy and international security”. |
| Arron Banks, the Leave.EU co-founder, said: | Arron Banks, the Leave.EU co-founder, said: |
| Turkish accession poses huge risks to our finances, our public services and our national security. Cameron and Osborne still want it, but they know the public don’t and think they can get away with pretending it isn’t going to happen, even with government websites boasting that they have teams dedicated to speeding it the process. | Turkish accession poses huge risks to our finances, our public services and our national security. Cameron and Osborne still want it, but they know the public don’t and think they can get away with pretending it isn’t going to happen, even with government websites boasting that they have teams dedicated to speeding it the process. |
| 1.49pm BST | 1.49pm BST |
| 13:49 | 13:49 |
| Severin Carrell | Severin Carrell |
| Scottish voters may switch away from voting to remain in the EU because their support for remaining in is far weaker than the opinion polls suggest, the IPPR think tank and polling organisation Ipsos Mori has warned today. | Scottish voters may switch away from voting to remain in the EU because their support for remaining in is far weaker than the opinion polls suggest, the IPPR think tank and polling organisation Ipsos Mori has warned today. |
| Russell Gunson, director of IPPR Scotland, said focus groups in Edinburgh, Perth and Elgin found widespread ignorance, a lack of identification with Europe, dislike of “scaremongering” by both sides and anxiety about immigration amongst 10 negative factors influencing voters. He said: | Russell Gunson, director of IPPR Scotland, said focus groups in Edinburgh, Perth and Elgin found widespread ignorance, a lack of identification with Europe, dislike of “scaremongering” by both sides and anxiety about immigration amongst 10 negative factors influencing voters. He said: |
| It seems the EU referendum is more of a ‘tinman’ referendum in Scotland, lacking heart and lacking passion, especially compared to the independence referendum. | It seems the EU referendum is more of a ‘tinman’ referendum in Scotland, lacking heart and lacking passion, especially compared to the independence referendum. |
| While the polls may show significant support for remain in Scotland, our research shows this support is potentially quite soft, and could therefore weaken between now and 23 June. | While the polls may show significant support for remain in Scotland, our research shows this support is potentially quite soft, and could therefore weaken between now and 23 June. |
| A host of Scottish opinion polls have given the remain camp a significant lead over leave, with one putting it at 50%, but the National Centre for Social Research found earlier this year Euroscepticism is at record levels in Scotland. It said 43% want EU powers reduced and 17% of Scots want to leave. | A host of Scottish opinion polls have given the remain camp a significant lead over leave, with one putting it at 50%, but the National Centre for Social Research found earlier this year Euroscepticism is at record levels in Scotland. It said 43% want EU powers reduced and 17% of Scots want to leave. |
| 1.28pm BST | 1.28pm BST |
| 13:28 | 13:28 |
| Shapps announces he is backing Remain | Shapps announces he is backing Remain |
| Grant Shapps, the Conservative former party co-chairman, has announced that he has decided to vote Remain. He explains why in a post on his website. Here’s an extract. | Grant Shapps, the Conservative former party co-chairman, has announced that he has decided to vote Remain. He explains why in a post on his website. Here’s an extract. |
| Having agonised about my own decision long and hard, I have finally reached the conclusion that in the end the potential turmoil for business is really quite difficult to ignore. I think that the uncertainty about market assess for British companies and the potential that has to put jobs as risk, does just tip the balance in favour of remaining. I will therefore personally vote to remain. | Having agonised about my own decision long and hard, I have finally reached the conclusion that in the end the potential turmoil for business is really quite difficult to ignore. I think that the uncertainty about market assess for British companies and the potential that has to put jobs as risk, does just tip the balance in favour of remaining. I will therefore personally vote to remain. |
| These arguments are very finely balanced, no one truly knows the impact that the referendum’s outcome will have. Speaking as a former Conservative party chairman, I take this opportunity to ask the party to recognise that whilst colleagues have widely differing views on this EU referendum, in the end we are all working to try to build a stronger country for everyone. This debate with all its necessary divisions, should therefore be kept in context because, whatever the outcome, we will need to continue to work closely together afterwards for the good of the nation. | These arguments are very finely balanced, no one truly knows the impact that the referendum’s outcome will have. Speaking as a former Conservative party chairman, I take this opportunity to ask the party to recognise that whilst colleagues have widely differing views on this EU referendum, in the end we are all working to try to build a stronger country for everyone. This debate with all its necessary divisions, should therefore be kept in context because, whatever the outcome, we will need to continue to work closely together afterwards for the good of the nation. |
| 1.22pm BST | 1.22pm BST |
| 13:22 | 13:22 |
| 1.21pm BST | 1.21pm BST |
| 13:21 | 13:21 |
| Villiers says Brexit would not lead to border controls between Northern Ireland and Republic | Villiers says Brexit would not lead to border controls between Northern Ireland and Republic |
| Tony Blair said that leaving the EU would make it impossible to keep the common travel area between Ireland and Northern Ireland. (See 11.53am.) | Tony Blair said that leaving the EU would make it impossible to keep the common travel area between Ireland and Northern Ireland. (See 11.53am.) |
| In a statement from Vote Leave, Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland secretary, said she did not accept this. | In a statement from Vote Leave, Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland secretary, said she did not accept this. |
| Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, will flourish outside the EU. We can keep an open land border. The common travel area between the UK and Ireland has existed for nearly 100 years since the creation of the Irish state in the 1920s. It will continue if we vote to leave. There would be risks to manage but they are not significantly more serious than risks that are already managed effectively today through bilateral cooperation between the UK and Ireland. | Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, will flourish outside the EU. We can keep an open land border. The common travel area between the UK and Ireland has existed for nearly 100 years since the creation of the Irish state in the 1920s. It will continue if we vote to leave. There would be risks to manage but they are not significantly more serious than risks that are already managed effectively today through bilateral cooperation between the UK and Ireland. |
| The idea that thousands of non-Irish EU citizens would suddenly start crossing the border is far-fetched. If we vote leave and change the rules on free movement for non-Irish EU citizens, then if they come to the UK across our land border without legal clearance to do so, they would not be able to work, or claim benefits, or rent a home, or open a bank account and could ultimately be deported. There are plenty of mechanisms we can use to control immigration and deal with risks around illegal migration which do not involve physical checks at our land border. The reality is that there has never been a genuinely ‘hard border’ enforced between the UK and Ireland and there would not be one if we leave. | The idea that thousands of non-Irish EU citizens would suddenly start crossing the border is far-fetched. If we vote leave and change the rules on free movement for non-Irish EU citizens, then if they come to the UK across our land border without legal clearance to do so, they would not be able to work, or claim benefits, or rent a home, or open a bank account and could ultimately be deported. There are plenty of mechanisms we can use to control immigration and deal with risks around illegal migration which do not involve physical checks at our land border. The reality is that there has never been a genuinely ‘hard border’ enforced between the UK and Ireland and there would not be one if we leave. |
| 1.04pm BST | 1.04pm BST |
| 13:04 | 13:04 |
| Major and Blair for Remain - Snap verdict | Major and Blair for Remain - Snap verdict |
| Major and Blair for Remain - Snap verdict: Of all the Remain media events we’ve seen, that was probably one of the most effective. Sir John Major and Tony Blair may seem like figures from the distant past, but in 1997 around three quarters of the British electorate voted for parties led by either one or other of them. People generally like seeing political opponents come together and this was a more genuine cross-party excursion than David Cameron’s stunt with Harriet Harman, Tim Farron and Natalie Bennett because Major and Blair were genuinely complimentary about each other and communicated their message together. At the event on Monday Cameron hogged all the questions and, when it was over, could not get away fast enough from Harman et al. Major and Blair also adopted a relatively understated tone. They made strong points about the future of the UK, Britain’s relations with the Republic of Ireland post-Brexit, the Irish common travel area and about the economic impact of Brexit on the UK generally, but they did so with an air of enlightened, but slightly detached concern which made a pleasant change from some of the more shrill scaremongering we’ve heard. Perhaps Major and Blair are so tarnished by the ERM and Iraq respectively that no one takes any notice (although seeing Blair in Northern Ireland is a reminder that the “warmonger” narrative omits a big part of the story of his premiership), but it is likely that they still have some persuasive clout. | Major and Blair for Remain - Snap verdict: Of all the Remain media events we’ve seen, that was probably one of the most effective. Sir John Major and Tony Blair may seem like figures from the distant past, but in 1997 around three quarters of the British electorate voted for parties led by either one or other of them. People generally like seeing political opponents come together and this was a more genuine cross-party excursion than David Cameron’s stunt with Harriet Harman, Tim Farron and Natalie Bennett because Major and Blair were genuinely complimentary about each other and communicated their message together. At the event on Monday Cameron hogged all the questions and, when it was over, could not get away fast enough from Harman et al. Major and Blair also adopted a relatively understated tone. They made strong points about the future of the UK, Britain’s relations with the Republic of Ireland post-Brexit, the Irish common travel area and about the economic impact of Brexit on the UK generally, but they did so with an air of enlightened, but slightly detached concern which made a pleasant change from some of the more shrill scaremongering we’ve heard. Perhaps Major and Blair are so tarnished by the ERM and Iraq respectively that no one takes any notice (although seeing Blair in Northern Ireland is a reminder that the “warmonger” narrative omits a big part of the story of his premiership), but it is likely that they still have some persuasive clout. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.06pm BST | at 1.06pm BST |
| 12.18pm BST | 12.18pm BST |
| 12:18 | 12:18 |
| Blair says they need to wind up soon. | Blair says they need to wind up soon. |
| Around the world people are coming together, he says. | Around the world people are coming together, he says. |
| For the UK to break apart from a set of relationship that has grown up over four decades, is not just wrong; it “goes against the grain of the future”, he says. | For the UK to break apart from a set of relationship that has grown up over four decades, is not just wrong; it “goes against the grain of the future”, he says. |
| It is not just a case about now, says Blair. It is about how we manage the future too. | It is not just a case about now, says Blair. It is about how we manage the future too. |
| Leaving the EU is “about the worst thing we could do to prepare ourselves for that future properly”, he says. | Leaving the EU is “about the worst thing we could do to prepare ourselves for that future properly”, he says. |
| 12.14pm BST | 12.14pm BST |
| 12:14 | 12:14 |
| Q: We will soon be leaving schools. How will students benefit from leaving, and what are the dangers of leaving? | Q: We will soon be leaving schools. How will students benefit from leaving, and what are the dangers of leaving? |
| Major says the questioner will want a productive job. He may want to look after himself and his family. People think of prosperity as an abstract thing. But if you have ever been in the position of not being able to pay a bill at the end of the week, you know that is not abstract. | Major says the questioner will want a productive job. He may want to look after himself and his family. People think of prosperity as an abstract thing. But if you have ever been in the position of not being able to pay a bill at the end of the week, you know that is not abstract. |
| I promise you, that never, ever leaves you. | I promise you, that never, ever leaves you. |
| Major says we are simply going to be better off by staying in. | Major says we are simply going to be better off by staying in. |
| 12.12pm BST | 12.12pm BST |
| 12:12 | 12:12 |
| Q: Remain say the economy of Northern Ireland will suffer if we leave. But wages are already low in Northern Ireland. How will it be worse? | Q: Remain say the economy of Northern Ireland will suffer if we leave. But wages are already low in Northern Ireland. How will it be worse? |
| Blair says there are many challenges for Northern Ireland. Governments have to do what they can to change that. But, if the UK leaves the EU, those problems become worse. It would be harder for Northern Ireland to attract investment. | Blair says there are many challenges for Northern Ireland. Governments have to do what they can to change that. But, if the UK leaves the EU, those problems become worse. It would be harder for Northern Ireland to attract investment. |
| If the government then wanted to retain access to the single market, it would have to allow free movement, like Norway. And the UK would have to contribute to the EU too. He says Norway’s per capita contribution is about the same as the UK’s. | If the government then wanted to retain access to the single market, it would have to allow free movement, like Norway. And the UK would have to contribute to the EU too. He says Norway’s per capita contribution is about the same as the UK’s. |
| He says remaining is not a solution to all these problems. But leaving will make the problems worse. | He says remaining is not a solution to all these problems. But leaving will make the problems worse. |
| 12.07pm BST | 12.07pm BST |
| 12:07 | 12:07 |
| Q: The EU has invested significantly in Northern Ireland. Would a UK government continue with that level of funding? | Q: The EU has invested significantly in Northern Ireland. Would a UK government continue with that level of funding? |
| Major says he and Blair have just visited the Peace Bridge. | Major says he and Blair have just visited the Peace Bridge. |
| He says investors invest in the UK because they want access to the EU market. | He says investors invest in the UK because they want access to the EU market. |
| If the UK left the EU, it is “overwhelmingly likely” that investment into the UK would be much smaller. | If the UK left the EU, it is “overwhelmingly likely” that investment into the UK would be much smaller. |