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EU referendum live: Corbyn urges 'stay in EU and make it work better'
EU referendum live: Juncker says UK will not get better deal if it votes to leave
(35 minutes later)
3.42pm BST
15:42
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3.36pm BST
15:36
Anushka Asthana
Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, has launched a vicious attack on leading figures campaigning for Britain to leave the EU, claiming that they want to privatise the NHS, inflict taxes that will hurt the poor and weaken workers’ rights.
The Labour politician has hit out at Conservative figures, including Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith, as well as Ukip’s Nigel Farage, warning that British politics will shift quickly to the right if they win the referendum.
“Why should anyone believe them when they claim they want to put people in control?Their track record tells us that their mission is nothing less than Thatcherism on steroids,” he wrote in the Guardian, arguing that their track record in politics was not to help the poor.
3.31pm BST
15:31
Juncker says UK will not get better deal if it votes to leave
Jennifer Rankin
Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commision, has told British voters there will be no re-opening of talks on Britain’s place in the EU, in the event of a vote to leave.
Out means out. British policymakers and British voters have to know that there will be no kind of renegotiation.
Juncker said there would be no re-opening of the British “special status” agreement negotiated with David Cameron in February. Under the deal, the prime minister got an exemption from the EU goal of “ever closer union”, the right to restrict welfare rights of EU workers in Britain and safeguards for countries outside the eurozone, vis-a-vis the larger single-currency bloc.
We have concluded a deal with the prime minister. He got the maximum he could receive and we gave the maximum we could give. So there will be no renegotiation.
If Britain votes to leave the EU on Thursday, the February deal will immediately become null and void, thanks to a self-destruct clause written into the text.
Updated
at 3.38pm BST
3.21pm BST
15:21
Jessica Elgot
The day before her murder, Jo Cox’s family had spent a happy day out on the river, her husband Brendan and their two small children flying the flag for ‘IN’ as they joined the remain flotilla to counter Nigel Farage’s Brexit boat on the Thames. The kids had enjoyed it so much, Brendan Cox tweeted that afternoon, they had asked to do it again the next day.
On Cox’s 42nd birthday, less than a week since her killing outside her constituency surgery, her family and friends stepped aboard a barge moored by the family houseboat, to make their way up the river to Westminster again, to celebrate the life of the MP, human rights activist, wife and mother.
Her neighbours at Hermitage Moorings had carpeted one community dinghy with 1,000 roses, a floating memorial named ‘Yorkshire Rose’ after the MP for Batley and Spen.
At the gates of the East London moorings where the family houseboat docked, a table was filled with bouquets and potted roses left by mourners and on the riverside walkway facing the boats, there were drops of white candle wax and burnt-out memorial candles.
From the Hermitage moorings with its views from Tower Bridge and City Hall, the barge with Brendan Cox and his two children, towing the floating memorial, set off up the river.
Before disembarking at Westminister Pier just as Big Ben struck 3pm, the dinghy was tied to a mooring post outside the Palace of Westminster; where it will stay for a week.
The main event will follow in Trafalgar Square, which coincides with dozens more around the world, named More In Common, after the MP’s maiden speech.
The couple’s favourite band will play, with tributes from Malala, U2 and a guard of honour decked in suffragette colours of purple, green and white.
#MoreInCommon Brendan Cox and his 2 children Cuillin &Lejla on a barge from the Hermitage Community #yplive @Jo_Cox1 pic.twitter.com/7rNi7Asiwa
2.50pm BST
2.50pm BST
14:50
14:50
.@jeremycorbyn now riffing on his favourite topics: country-by-country reporting; financial transactions tax; posted workers' directive.
.@jeremycorbyn now riffing on his favourite topics: country-by-country reporting; financial transactions tax; posted workers' directive.
Corbyn is repeating many of the points he raised in his EU speech yesterday.
Corbyn is repeating many of the points he raised in his EU speech yesterday.
2.47pm BST
2.47pm BST
14:47
14:47
Corbyn is talking about the need for countries to work together to tackle problems with an international dimension, like pollution.
Corbyn is talking about the need for countries to work together to tackle problems with an international dimension, like pollution.
“The sea is a common denominator for all of us,” he says.
“The sea is a common denominator for all of us,” he says.
2.44pm BST
2.44pm BST
14:44
14:44
This is from my colleague Heather Stewart.
This is from my colleague Heather Stewart.
Noticeably upbeat tone at last Labour In event - less transactional, more about spirit of openness and cooperation the EU represents.
Noticeably upbeat tone at last Labour In event - less transactional, more about spirit of openness and cooperation the EU represents.
2.40pm BST
2.40pm BST
14:40
14:40
Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now.
Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now.
He thanks Khan for winning the London mayor election against the most disgusting campaign he had ever seen in an election.
He thanks Khan for winning the London mayor election against the most disgusting campaign he had ever seen in an election.
Labour does not believe in the status quo, he says. It wants to reform Europe to make it work better for people.
Labour does not believe in the status quo, he says. It wants to reform Europe to make it work better for people.
He says people should vote to remain in the EU for jobs, for rights at work and for the NHS.
He says people should vote to remain in the EU for jobs, for rights at work and for the NHS.
2.33pm BST
2.33pm BST
14:33
14:33
Sadiq Khan is speaking now. He says Labour faces the fight of its life between now and 10pm tomorrow. He says staying in the EU is the best way to be true to British values and Labour values.
Sadiq Khan is speaking now. He says Labour faces the fight of its life between now and 10pm tomorrow. He says staying in the EU is the best way to be true to British values and Labour values.
2.29pm BST
2.29pm BST
14:29
14:29
Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, says the risks of leaving the EU outweigh any potential benefits. And these are risks we do not have to take, she says.
Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, says the risks of leaving the EU outweigh any potential benefits. And these are risks we do not have to take, she says.
She says you do not have to love Europe to vote for it.
She says you do not have to love Europe to vote for it.
Tomorrow is not the day for a protest vote, she says.
Tomorrow is not the day for a protest vote, she says.
2.25pm BST
14:25
Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan, Carwyn Jones and Kezia Dugdale are all on the stage together.
And Jones, the Welsh first minister, is speaking first.
He says his job involves promoting employment. Employers want to come to Wales because it is in the single market, he says.
He says he wants Britain to be a tolerant country.
2.19pm BST
14:19
Labour rally for Remain
Alan Johnson, the chair of Labour In for Britain, is speaking at the Labour rally now. It is going to feature Jeremy Corbyn, the party leader, Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish leader, Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, and Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.
Johnson says an Italian friend told him recently that for Britain to stand alone in 1940 when it was surrounded by enemies was heroic. But for it to stand alone now, when it is surrounded by friends, would be absurd.
Updated
at 2.41pm BST
2.14pm BST
14:14
Sir John Major's speech - Summary
Sir John Major’s speech this morning, from the event with David Cameron, Harriet Harman and Marvin Rees, the Labour mayor of Bristol, was very good. I’ve already quoted one passage from it, but here is a summary of all the key points.
Now, if our nation does vote to leave tomorrow, we must respect their decision. But if they vote to leave on the basis of half-truths and untruths and misunderstandings, then pretty soon the gravediggers of our prosperity will have some very serious questions to answer. They will have to account for what they have said and done. But that will be of no consolation. For we will be out, out for good, diminished as an influence upon the world, a truly Great Britain shrunk down to a little England, perhaps without Scotland, perhaps with a grumpy Wales, and certainly with a Northern Ireland divided from the south by the border controls that would then be the edge of the European Union. That is not how our island story should go.
I think the prime minister has fought an extremely brave campaign in very difficult circumstances. He’s put facts before our nation, he’s warned of the dangers, and that is his duty as prime minister. He cannot ignore the dangers that we face, and it is his responsibility to put those dangers before people. And in return for doing that he has faced a great deal of opposition and sometimes abuse from people who frankly we might have expected better from. And I think the way in which he has conducted himself in putting the country before self and the country before party is quite remarkable. And, David, I warmly congratulate you on what you have managed to achieve.
Let me say just a word about immigration. I come from Brixton, I was brought up in the 50s, I know a little about it from direct experience. And I have to tell you this. In a world that has changed, in a world that is on the move in almost every part of the world, leaving the European Union is no solution to the scale of migration around the world. it is a reaction to it, but it isn’t a solution to it. And to try and solve a short-term problem that will diminish as the European economy begins to grow again, and leave Europe and risk a far greater longterm impact to our prosperity in the world is quite disproportionate to the problem that we face.
And I find it extraordinary that people should point to Turkey and suggest that 77m Turks are suddenly going to descend and take all our hospital places and all our school places and all our local authority dwellings. They have been negotiating for 30 years without getting in. They are not going to get in in my judgment for one decade, two decades, perhaps ever. Even if they do get in, we are not in the Schengen zone. And even if that happened in some far distant future, what absurdity it is to suggest all 77m Turks are suddenly going to say ‘Let’s go to the United Kingdom. The national living wage has risen by 50p. Let’s get there as quickly as we can.’
Let me turn the telescope of introspection around for a moment. Suppose tomorrow our nation decided to leave Europe. Not only would that be disastrous for us. But if we leave, what would that mean for Europe? What would Europe lose if they lost the British? Well, firstly they would lose the best performing economy in Europe, the economy that on the trends of recent years may very well in 15 years’ time be the biggest economy in Europe, bigger than Germany. They will lose one of only two nations that have a military capability of significance and a nuclear capacity. And they would lose the country with the longest, the widest and the deepest foreign policy reach of any European nation. Europe itself without Britain would shrink and would be diminished.
In a world of three great economic powers, America, China, Europe, do we really wish our continent to sink to a lower level of significance than America and China. I don’t. I think the European voice is worth having and worth listening to and I don’t wish to see it washed away because the British moved away from Europe.
The prime minister is quite young. Well, youngish. And I’m not, so perhaps I represent the grey vote. Some have said I always have done.
1.44pm BST
13:44
Nine MPs are yet to declare which way they will vote in the EU referendum, with less than 24 hours until polls open - while nearly three-quarters are voting to remain, the Press Association reports.
A survey of all 650 MPs carried out by the Press Association found 478 (73.5%) are voting Remain, while less than a quarter (159) are voting Leave. Some 1.4% have not yet declared.
Four further MPs - Speaker John Bercow (Buckingham) and Deputy Speakers Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley), Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) and Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) - will remain undeclared, having invoked their roles within the House of Commons as the reason.
Of the nine MPs, seven will not be sharing how they will vote on Thursday, the Press Association understands.
These include Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgewater and West Somerset.
The long-planned Hinkley Point nuclear power station is within Liddell-Grainger’s constituency and he said he did not want to jeopardise the project by declaring his vote in the referendum.
Conservative Liddell-Grainger said: “I have actually made myself very clear about Europe in the past but we are so close after nine-and-a-half years of trying so I’m not prepared to say either way.”
He added: “If it hadn’t been for Hinkley I would have declared but I am not going to say. It is right in the middle of my constituency.”
Five other Tory MPs -Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford), Seema Kennedy (South Ribble), Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire), Anne Milton (Guildford) and Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) - also said they would not be declaring how they intended to vote.
Warley’s John Spellar will not be declaring his voting intention, his office said. He remains the final Labour MP to reveal how he will be voting in Thursday’s referendum.
Huw Merriman, Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle, said he would only announce which way he intended to vote on polling day after he had “finished a programme of discussions” with constituents.
Tory MP Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon) declined to confirm which way he would be voting.
1.26pm BST
13:26
Jeremy Corbyn turned down an invitation to appear with David Cameron and Tim Farron at a cross-party rally today, BuzzFeed reports. Corbyn has always said he would not share a platform with Cameron.
1.22pm BST
13:22
Here is a Guardian picture gallery with some of the best pictures from the campaign.
Related: EU vote: ups and downs of the in and out campaigns – in pictures
1.20pm BST
13:20
Q: You used to back Turkey joining the EU. [Martha Kearney plays a clip of Boris Johnson saying he favoured Turkey joining. It is from the TV documentary he made to promote his book about Rome, which also includes a pro-Turkey line.)
Johnson says that when he made those comments the EU was a different kind of organisation.
1.18pm BST
13:18
Boris Johnson on the World at One
Boris Johnson is being interviewed on the World at One.
Q: Sadiq Khan accused you last night of running Project Hate.
Johnson says he does not accept that. He is running a positive campaign.
Q: What about Michael Gove compared economists to Nazis.
Johnson ignores the question, and says there are experts on both sides of this debate.
Q: Are the IMF like Nazis?
Johnson says Gove has run a fantastic campaign, and was right about this. He says the IMF did not foresee the 2008 crash and were wrong about the euro.
Q: But that does not make them Nazis. Doesn’t this suggest you are running Project Hate.
Johnson says he has run a very positive campaign.
Boris Johnson: Gove is right to use Nazi analogy https://t.co/luqPVhroNL #wato pic.twitter.com/P8n6Ag6aHs
He says immigration is good for the country.
Q: So would you cut it to below 100,000.
Johnson says that is a matter for the government. But he thinks the government should be in control.
Q: What level do you think net migration should be?
Johnson says the current level, 333,000, is too high. And he says 184,000 net, the figure for EU migration, is also too high.
1.04pm BST
13:04
Duncan Smith accuses Cameron of 'lying to the British people' over Turkey
Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, has accused David Cameron of “lying to the British people” over Turkey. Duncan Smith was responding to Newsnight’s interview last night with Ilnur Cevik, an adviser to the Turkish president, who said Cameron had supported Turkey joining the EU (see 7.27am), and to a line in Sir John Major’s speech this morning where he suggested Turkey could join the EU within a decade.
Duncan Smith said:
David Cameron has repeatedly claimed that Turkey is not going to join the EU despite it being Government policy. Now the Turkish government has confirmed that he is the ‘chief supporter’ of their bid to join the EU.
Cameron also said that Turkey will not join until the year 3000 but Sir John Major has let the cat out of the bag - Turkey could be in the EU in ten years’ time.
I’m afraid there is no conclusion you can draw from this, except that David Cameron is colluding with the EU and lying to the British people. Families are suffering the consequences of uncontrolled migration - a direct result of the EU’s obsession with freedom of movement.
Duncan Smith has put quite an extreme interpretation on what Major said this morning. Major said he thought Turkey would not be joining the EU “in in my judgment for one decade, two decades, perhaps ever”.
12.50pm BST
12:50
A man named Laurence Taylor who says he is “fed up with the rubbish being talked about immigration” has taken a full-page advert in the Metro to argue that it is a non-issued, the Political Scrapbook blog reports.
