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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: Tories 'may push for second referendum if leave lose' | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 5.00pm BST | |
| 17:00 | |
| Afternoon summary | |
| That’s all from me for now. | |
| I will be launching another blog later to cover the ITV debate, featuring Boris Johnson, Andrea Leadsom and Gisela Stuart for Leave against Nicola Sturgeon, Angela Eagle and Amber Rudd for Remain. I will launch the blog here at around 7pm, and the two-hour programme starts at 8pm. | |
| 4.46pm BST | |
| 16:46 | |
| Starmer says Leave turning politics into 'truth-free zone' | |
| Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow immigration minister, has told the House magazine in an interview that he is worried that the Leave campaign is turning politics into a “truth-free zone”. He explained: | |
| There’s a development in politics that we have to be really careful of, which is allowing politics to become a sort of truth-free zone – this sense that it doesn’t really matter if you’re telling the truth, that it doesn’t really matter if you say one thing one day and another thing the next day. Some of this is happening I’m afraid in the camp that want to leave the EU. | |
| There’s a very loose relationship with the truth. We must be really careful. Let’s have a hard debate. But we mustn’t allow that to enter our politics. It really matters actually whether people are being honest about the facts when they present their arguments. It really matters. And if we get casual about that we’ll lose something in politics forever. | |
| 4.40pm BST | |
| 16:40 | |
| Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited with inventing the world wide web, has declared in favour of staying in the EU. In this week’s New Statesman he says: | |
| I believe Britain should stay in the EU. The logical reason is that we need structures of all scales to manage this planet, and there are a good many things that are best done at the scale of Europe ... The EU level, though, is essential for us ... My heart and wallet are at one: Britain should remain in Europe. | |
| 4.35pm BST | 4.35pm BST |
| 16:35 | 16:35 |
| My colleague Severin Carrell has tweeted a picture of George Osborne on the farm in Scotland with Ruth Davidson shovelling - hay, I think, but us urban types don’t know. (I doubt Osborne does either.) | My colleague Severin Carrell has tweeted a picture of George Osborne on the farm in Scotland with Ruth Davidson shovelling - hay, I think, but us urban types don’t know. (I doubt Osborne does either.) |
| "Just put your back into it, George" Ruth Davidson chivvies the Chancellor to keep forking #EUref #Stow #CAP pic.twitter.com/SjbdbuCUHY | "Just put your back into it, George" Ruth Davidson chivvies the Chancellor to keep forking #EUref #Stow #CAP pic.twitter.com/SjbdbuCUHY |
| 4.12pm BST | 4.12pm BST |
| 16:12 | 16:12 |
| Osborne rules out second referendum | Osborne rules out second referendum |
| Severin Carrell | Severin Carrell |
| George Osborne also indicated that he would not accept Dominic Raab’s argument that a narrow Remain win could lead to the Tories returning to this issue within the next few years. (See 3.56pm.) The June vote would settle the matter for a generation, Osborne said. Asked about the prospect of a re-run, he said: | George Osborne also indicated that he would not accept Dominic Raab’s argument that a narrow Remain win could lead to the Tories returning to this issue within the next few years. (See 3.56pm.) The June vote would settle the matter for a generation, Osborne said. Asked about the prospect of a re-run, he said: |
| I think it will settle it actually. Everyone understands this is the big decision. It’s important for people to recognise there isn’t going to be some second EU referendum. If we vote to leave, we’re leaving. [If] we vote to say, we’ve made our decision we want a strong economy, we want a strong UK and we want Britain out there in the world, shaping events and not being shaped by them. And I think that will last for at least a generation. | I think it will settle it actually. Everyone understands this is the big decision. It’s important for people to recognise there isn’t going to be some second EU referendum. If we vote to leave, we’re leaving. [If] we vote to say, we’ve made our decision we want a strong economy, we want a strong UK and we want Britain out there in the world, shaping events and not being shaped by them. And I think that will last for at least a generation. |
| 4.04pm BST | 4.04pm BST |
| 16:04 | 16:04 |
| Osborne says Farage's campaign rhetoric has been 'disgusting' | Osborne says Farage's campaign rhetoric has been 'disgusting' |
| Severin Carrell | Severin Carrell |
| George Osborne has attacked Nigel Farage for using “pretty disgusting” rhetoric about the threat of migrants sexually attacking women and refugee bodies washing up on British beaches. | George Osborne has attacked Nigel Farage for using “pretty disgusting” rhetoric about the threat of migrants sexually attacking women and refugee bodies washing up on British beaches. |
| In a marked escalation of attacks on the Ukip leader and by extension the entire leave campaign, the chancellor singled out Farage for representing a “mean-spirited, narrow and divisive” vision of Britain. He said that “tendency” was now coming to dominate the anti-EU campaign. | In a marked escalation of attacks on the Ukip leader and by extension the entire leave campaign, the chancellor singled out Farage for representing a “mean-spirited, narrow and divisive” vision of Britain. He said that “tendency” was now coming to dominate the anti-EU campaign. |
| Speaking to reporters on a campaign visit to a Scottish sheep and beef farm with Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, Osborne said: | Speaking to reporters on a campaign visit to a Scottish sheep and beef farm with Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, Osborne said: |
| The Nigel Farage tendency is taking over their argument and you’re increasingly getting this Farage vision of Britain, with all this talk of bodies washing up the sea shores and women being at risk of sexual assault from migrants. | The Nigel Farage tendency is taking over their argument and you’re increasingly getting this Farage vision of Britain, with all this talk of bodies washing up the sea shores and women being at risk of sexual assault from migrants. |
| It is pretty disgusting. And we want to say no to it. We want to say that is not the country we are. We’re a country that is big and bold and strong, and united, and we want to say no to this mean-spirited, divisive, negative view of Britain that you get from Nigel Farage and company. | It is pretty disgusting. And we want to say no to it. We want to say that is not the country we are. We’re a country that is big and bold and strong, and united, and we want to say no to this mean-spirited, divisive, negative view of Britain that you get from Nigel Farage and company. |
| 3.56pm BST | 3.56pm BST |
| 15:56 | 15:56 |
| Tory MPs may push for second referendum after 2020 if Remain win, says Vote Leave minister | Tory MPs may push for second referendum after 2020 if Remain win, says Vote Leave minister |
| Conservative MPs may push for a second referendum on EU membership with a few years if Remain win, Dominic Raab, the justice minister, has said. | Conservative MPs may push for a second referendum on EU membership with a few years if Remain win, Dominic Raab, the justice minister, has said. |
| Raab, who is a senior figure in Vote Leave, made the revelation in an interview with the House magazine. He said that he would expect MPs to respect the verdict of the people but also that it was inevitable that the prospect of a second referendum would be an issue in the next leadership contest, which he said he hoped would be near the 2020 general election. | Raab, who is a senior figure in Vote Leave, made the revelation in an interview with the House magazine. He said that he would expect MPs to respect the verdict of the people but also that it was inevitable that the prospect of a second referendum would be an issue in the next leadership contest, which he said he hoped would be near the 2020 general election. |
| This was particularly the case if Leave lost narrowly, he said. | This was particularly the case if Leave lost narrowly, he said. |
| His comment implies candidates in the next leadership contest may be under pressure to offer a second referendum after the 2020 election. | His comment implies candidates in the next leadership contest may be under pressure to offer a second referendum after the 2020 election. |
| Raab told the magazine: | Raab told the magazine: |
| You would be naïve to suggest that [a second referendum] wouldn’t become a factor and one element in that [the next leadership contest.] | You would be naïve to suggest that [a second referendum] wouldn’t become a factor and one element in that [the next leadership contest.] |
| I think the sensible thing, if it’s very close – within a couple of points – would be to take pause, respect the verdict of the British people and effectively shelve this debate until that point, which I hope is going to be as close to the 2020 election as possible. | I think the sensible thing, if it’s very close – within a couple of points – would be to take pause, respect the verdict of the British people and effectively shelve this debate until that point, which I hope is going to be as close to the 2020 election as possible. |
| I think that’s the pragmatic, sensible approach. Then we can all get on with delivering the business of government ... | I think that’s the pragmatic, sensible approach. Then we can all get on with delivering the business of government ... |
| I think the public would expect us to accept their verdict, but of course things change. I’m just realistic and I’d like people to acknowledge that whenever the Tory leadership election is, I think it’s obvious that it will be part of that. | I think the public would expect us to accept their verdict, but of course things change. I’m just realistic and I’d like people to acknowledge that whenever the Tory leadership election is, I think it’s obvious that it will be part of that. |
| 3.16pm BST | 3.16pm BST |
| 15:16 | 15:16 |
| Major and Blair - Key quotes | 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. | 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 | 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 ... | 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. | 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, 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. | 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. | 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 ... | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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 | 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? | 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. | 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 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. | 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”. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.30pm BST | at 3.30pm BST |
| 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. |