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| EU referendum morning briefing: a defector, a debate and a new midnight deadline | EU referendum morning briefing: a defector, a debate and a new midnight deadline |
| (3 months later) | |
| The big picture | The big picture |
| A boost for Bremain (sorry, I fell for the alliteration) this morning, with news that Tory MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, previously a Brexit backer, has now said she will vote for Britain to stay in the EU. The push that became a shove was, the former GP says, the claim by Vote Leave that quitting would free up £350m a week for the NHS – something she says “simply isn’t true”: | A boost for Bremain (sorry, I fell for the alliteration) this morning, with news that Tory MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, previously a Brexit backer, has now said she will vote for Britain to stay in the EU. The push that became a shove was, the former GP says, the claim by Vote Leave that quitting would free up £350m a week for the NHS – something she says “simply isn’t true”: |
| For someone like me who has long campaigned for open and honest data in public life I could not have set foot on a battle bus that has at the heart of its campaign a figure that I know to be untrue. | For someone like me who has long campaigned for open and honest data in public life I could not have set foot on a battle bus that has at the heart of its campaign a figure that I know to be untrue. |
| If you’re in a position where you can’t hand out a Vote Leave leaflet, you can’t be campaigning for that organisation. | If you’re in a position where you can’t hand out a Vote Leave leaflet, you can’t be campaigning for that organisation. |
| In an article for the Times (apparently not yet on the website but see it here), Wollaston adds: | In an article for the Times (apparently not yet on the website but see it here), Wollaston adds: |
| The Leave campaign has redrawn its battle lines around immigration for the final weeks of the campaign and looks increasingly indistinguishable from Ukip. | The Leave campaign has redrawn its battle lines around immigration for the final weeks of the campaign and looks increasingly indistinguishable from Ukip. |
| Does the defection of one MP matter much? David Cameron is certainly pleased. Responses from the leave side range from critical to dismissive to conspiracy theorist. Perhaps, though, it suggests – as the c12% of undecided voters might confirm – there are people who have been waiting to hear the arguments before they settle in a camp. The very idea! | Does the defection of one MP matter much? David Cameron is certainly pleased. Responses from the leave side range from critical to dismissive to conspiracy theorist. Perhaps, though, it suggests – as the c12% of undecided voters might confirm – there are people who have been waiting to hear the arguments before they settle in a camp. The very idea! |
| Of course I understand that politicians are not allowed to change their minds but real people do | Of course I understand that politicians are not allowed to change their minds but real people do |
| Don’t expect any floor-crossing this evening as ITV hosts a referendum debate that is actually a debate featuring, for remain, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Tory energy secretary Amber Rudd and Labour’s shadow business secretary Angela Eagle; and for leave, Conservatives Boris Johnson and energy minister Andrea Leadsom, and Labour’s Gisela Stuart. ITV’s Julie Etchingham moderates again. | Don’t expect any floor-crossing this evening as ITV hosts a referendum debate that is actually a debate featuring, for remain, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Tory energy secretary Amber Rudd and Labour’s shadow business secretary Angela Eagle; and for leave, Conservatives Boris Johnson and energy minister Andrea Leadsom, and Labour’s Gisela Stuart. ITV’s Julie Etchingham moderates again. |
| Expect: questions on a second Scottish referendum; disputes over that £350m figure; Tory leadership speculation; some sort of joke from Johnson about being the only man on the stage as if that isn’t (reversed) absolutely the normal state of affairs for every single woman in politics. | Expect: questions on a second Scottish referendum; disputes over that £350m figure; Tory leadership speculation; some sort of joke from Johnson about being the only man on the stage as if that isn’t (reversed) absolutely the normal state of affairs for every single woman in politics. |
| And after the debate, please don’t all rush at once to register to vote before the all-new midnight Thursday deadline. MPs will vote earlier in the day to allow the 48-hour extension to the registration deadline, following the crashing of the official website as the original cut-off point approached on Tuesday night. | And after the debate, please don’t all rush at once to register to vote before the all-new midnight Thursday deadline. MPs will vote earlier in the day to allow the 48-hour extension to the registration deadline, following the crashing of the official website as the original cut-off point approached on Tuesday night. |
| Pro-Brexit Tory MP Bernard Jenkin and Leave.EU funder Arron Banks have both warned that that if the result of the referendum were to be close, the decision to extend the deadline could be challenged by a judicial review. But the Electoral Commission said it supported the extension. | Pro-Brexit Tory MP Bernard Jenkin and Leave.EU funder Arron Banks have both warned that that if the result of the referendum were to be close, the decision to extend the deadline could be challenged by a judicial review. But the Electoral Commission said it supported the extension. |
| You should also know: | You should also know: |
| Poll position | Poll position |
| No fresh polls today. Enjoy the silence. | No fresh polls today. Enjoy the silence. |
| Diary | Diary |
| Read these | Read these |
| Nicholas Vinocur and Tara Palmeri in Politico say France will not play nicely in the event that Britain votes to leave the EU: | Nicholas Vinocur and Tara Palmeri in Politico say France will not play nicely in the event that Britain votes to leave the EU: |
| The French push is focused on convincing the remaining EU countries to unwind all treaties and agreements binding the UK to the bloc quickly, so the divorce is sealed by withdrawing subsidies, re-evaluating trade relationships sector by sector, denying British supervisory bodies EU recognition in areas like financial services, and establishing new immigration rules, to name just a few levers … | The French push is focused on convincing the remaining EU countries to unwind all treaties and agreements binding the UK to the bloc quickly, so the divorce is sealed by withdrawing subsidies, re-evaluating trade relationships sector by sector, denying British supervisory bodies EU recognition in areas like financial services, and establishing new immigration rules, to name just a few levers … |
| France would not be acting out of spite, officials said, and has no interest in setting off a tit-for-tat war of punitive measures. But as a core EU member, sources said it had a responsibility to strengthen the bloc and deprive anti-EU parties – not just the FN but also the likes of Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands – of a chance to use Britain as a shining example of what life can be after the European Union. | France would not be acting out of spite, officials said, and has no interest in setting off a tit-for-tat war of punitive measures. But as a core EU member, sources said it had a responsibility to strengthen the bloc and deprive anti-EU parties – not just the FN but also the likes of Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands – of a chance to use Britain as a shining example of what life can be after the European Union. |
| The Spectator pits Matthew Parris and Daniel Hannan against each other to give their best reasons to vote In or Out (I’m going to let readers assume which of them argues which case). A taster: | The Spectator pits Matthew Parris and Daniel Hannan against each other to give their best reasons to vote In or Out (I’m going to let readers assume which of them argues which case). A taster: |
| Europe has become a proxy for people’s sense of powerlessness. | Europe has become a proxy for people’s sense of powerlessness. |
| Ask yourself, though, who the ‘we’ are who would be ‘taking back control’. The ‘we’ used by Brexiteers is menacingly unspecific. Some of the ‘we’ want much less regulation, some want much more, some want different. The collective ‘we’ can only survive the first few yards of this journey – from now until 24 June. After any decision to leave, that sense of purpose would fragment. | Ask yourself, though, who the ‘we’ are who would be ‘taking back control’. The ‘we’ used by Brexiteers is menacingly unspecific. Some of the ‘we’ want much less regulation, some want much more, some want different. The collective ‘we’ can only survive the first few yards of this journey – from now until 24 June. After any decision to leave, that sense of purpose would fragment. |
| ‘Europe’ has soaked up for us a million gripes about the modern world: a proxy and convenient target for a national irritability which, were Europe to be removed, would not go away. | ‘Europe’ has soaked up for us a million gripes about the modern world: a proxy and convenient target for a national irritability which, were Europe to be removed, would not go away. |
| Baffling claim of the day | Baffling claim of the day |
| The Telegraph leads today with the news that “Thatcher minister quits Tories in Brexit row”. The minister is Sir John Nott, the row is that he says he won’t renew his party membership until Cameron is replaced as leader, and the baffling bit is that the article says Nott “is understood to have voted for Ukip in European elections” in 2014 anyway. | The Telegraph leads today with the news that “Thatcher minister quits Tories in Brexit row”. The minister is Sir John Nott, the row is that he says he won’t renew his party membership until Cameron is replaced as leader, and the baffling bit is that the article says Nott “is understood to have voted for Ukip in European elections” in 2014 anyway. |
| Celebrity endorsement of the day | Celebrity endorsement of the day |
| Former US president and potential First Dude-in-waiting Bill Clinton, writing in the New Statesman (again, apparently not online yet; the morning briefing is just too darned ahead of itself), cites the “future properity and peace” of Northern Ireland as a reason to vote remain: | Former US president and potential First Dude-in-waiting Bill Clinton, writing in the New Statesman (again, apparently not online yet; the morning briefing is just too darned ahead of itself), cites the “future properity and peace” of Northern Ireland as a reason to vote remain: |
| Britain is a leading representative of Europe throughout the world … I hope you will stay. | Britain is a leading representative of Europe throughout the world … I hope you will stay. |
| The archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has come to the same conclusion, writing in the Telegraph today: | The archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has come to the same conclusion, writing in the Telegraph today: |
| Not all decisions should be made purely on the basis of ‘What’s in it for us?’ It is also significant, therefore, that a far higher percentage of young people wish to stay in the EU than older people; it is they, principally, who will have to live with the consequences of the decision that we take on June 23. | Not all decisions should be made purely on the basis of ‘What’s in it for us?’ It is also significant, therefore, that a far higher percentage of young people wish to stay in the EU than older people; it is they, principally, who will have to live with the consequences of the decision that we take on June 23. |
| The day in a tweet | The day in a tweet |
| Remain supporters may be gloating about the Sarah Wollaston defection now, but just you wait till Grassroots Out unveil Cameron tomorrow | Remain supporters may be gloating about the Sarah Wollaston defection now, but just you wait till Grassroots Out unveil Cameron tomorrow |
| If today were a book ... | If today were a book ... |
| It would be Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Or Tom’s Midnight Garden. Or Midnight Express. Anything with midnight in it, basically. MIDNIGHT. Got that? | It would be Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Or Tom’s Midnight Garden. Or Midnight Express. Anything with midnight in it, basically. MIDNIGHT. Got that? |
| And another thing | And another thing |
| Would you like to wake up to this briefing in your inbox every weekday? Sign up here! | Would you like to wake up to this briefing in your inbox every weekday? Sign up here! |
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