This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/22/david-cameron-makes-final-plea-for-britain-to-vote-to-remain-in-the-eu
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| David Cameron makes final plea for Britain to vote to remain in the EU | David Cameron makes final plea for Britain to vote to remain in the EU |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| David Cameron has made a final impassioned plea to the British people to vote to stay in the European Union, at a rally which brought together leading politicians from across the political spectrum. | David Cameron has made a final impassioned plea to the British people to vote to stay in the European Union, at a rally which brought together leading politicians from across the political spectrum. |
| Following speeches from the former Labour premier Gordon Brown, the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Green MP Caroline Lucas, the prime minister called on voters to reject the “untruths” of the leave campaign. | Following speeches from the former Labour premier Gordon Brown, the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Green MP Caroline Lucas, the prime minister called on voters to reject the “untruths” of the leave campaign. |
| With his voice breaking, Cameron pleaded with voters to “put jobs first, put the economy first” and attacked Michael Gove’s comparison of anti-Brexit experts to Nazis, saying: “That is the extent to which they have lost it.” | With his voice breaking, Cameron pleaded with voters to “put jobs first, put the economy first” and attacked Michael Gove’s comparison of anti-Brexit experts to Nazis, saying: “That is the extent to which they have lost it.” |
| The prime minister said the referendum vote was “a choice of a lifetime” and voters should “think of your children and your grandchildren … we don’t want to cut them off from opportunity, cut them off from the world, we want to give them the best chance. That’s why we should vote remain tomorrow.” | The prime minister said the referendum vote was “a choice of a lifetime” and voters should “think of your children and your grandchildren … we don’t want to cut them off from opportunity, cut them off from the world, we want to give them the best chance. That’s why we should vote remain tomorrow.” |
| The rally at the University of Birmingham follows a punishing referendum campaign that has split the ruling party and exposed damaging rifts over the impact of immigration from EU countries. | The rally at the University of Birmingham follows a punishing referendum campaign that has split the ruling party and exposed damaging rifts over the impact of immigration from EU countries. |
| The prime minister is already facing calls from some Tory donors and MPs to stand down regardless of whether Britain votes to remain or leave the EU. | The prime minister is already facing calls from some Tory donors and MPs to stand down regardless of whether Britain votes to remain or leave the EU. |
| The event was meant to emphasise the remain campaign’s broad cross-party appeal. It also included former trade union leader Brendan Barber, former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown and business leaders. | The event was meant to emphasise the remain campaign’s broad cross-party appeal. It also included former trade union leader Brendan Barber, former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown and business leaders. |
| Cameron walked on to a stage erected outside the university’s central court with his sleeves rolled up. | |
| “I am so proud that there is such a broad alliance that has come together to keep Britain within a reformed EU,” he said. | |
| After praising speeches by Brown and Farron, he chose to emphasise the need to protect the economy by not risking an exit from the EU. | |
| “What is full square on the ballot paper is the future of the British economy … A strong economy is everything. And it’s a fact that it will be weaker if we leave and stronger if we stay,” he said. “On the ballot paper is British jobs, British families and that is why we must vote remain.” | |
| He listed the names of economic bodies such as the IMF. “What is the response of the leave campaign? It is to say that Britain has had enough of experts. Today they were even comparing experts to Nazi propagandists. That is the extent to which they have lost it,” he said. | |
| He said that the government’s ability to tackle terrorism, the threat of Russia, climate change and Islamic State would be hindered if Britain left. | |
| The prime minister added: “This is the choice of a lifetime. I would urge everyone when you go home tonight and go home tomorrow: look at your children. Think of your grandchildren. Think of their opportunities. We do not want to cut them off … we want to give them the best chance we can, and that is why we should vote remain tomorrow.” | |
| Cameron told voters to ignore “untruths” from the leave side about Turkey joining the EU imminently, that the EU is going to build an army and that £350m is paid a week, saying: “Don’t go and vote on the basis of things which are not true.” | |
| Earlier on Wednesday, Cameron came under sustained attack from his onetime allies. Iain Duncan Smith accused him of “lying to the British people” over his support for Turkey’s quest to join the EU. | |
| Brown, meanwhile, invoked the memory of murdered MP Jo Cox in a speech that was greeted with cheers from a mixed audience of mainly Lib Dem, Tory and Labour activists. | |
| He told them: “This is not the Britain I know, this is not the Britain I love. The Britain I know is better than the Britain of these debates, of insults, of posters. The Britain I know is better, a Britain that is better as it deals with some of the greatest challenges of our time. | |
| Related: EU referendum live – 'The Britain I love is better than this,' Gordon Brown says | |
| “The Britain I know is better than the exaggerations and over-exaggerations that we have seen. The Britain I know is a Britain of Jo Cox. The Britain where people are tolerant and not prejudiced and where people hate hate. | |
| “I want our country back, I want to end the intolerance and the prejudice and the hate. I want us to take control again so that unity replaces division. I want Britain to be the Britain that it should be, that faces the problems of the world and works with other countries to take the action that is necessary for the future. | |
| “And we will be no less British as a result of cooperating with our neighbours.” | |
| The former prime minister said the EU had ended 1,000 years of European conflict and ushered in a new era of human rights. “Now there is no war, Europe is at peace,” he said. | |
| On Wednesday, Cameron also made his strongest attack of the campaign so far on Gove, who has long been a close political friend. | |
| Gove had likened those claiming that a vote to leave would lead to a recession to scientists paid by Adolf Hitler’s government to come up with the scientific results wanted by the state. | Gove had likened those claiming that a vote to leave would lead to a recession to scientists paid by Adolf Hitler’s government to come up with the scientific results wanted by the state. |
| “We have to be careful about historical comparisons, but Albert Einstein during the 1930s was denounced by the German authorities for being wrong and his theories were denounced, and one of the reasons, of course, he was denounced was because he was Jewish,” Gove said. “They got 100 German scientists in the pay of the government to say that he was wrong and Einstein said, ‘Look, if I was wrong, one would have been enough.’” | “We have to be careful about historical comparisons, but Albert Einstein during the 1930s was denounced by the German authorities for being wrong and his theories were denounced, and one of the reasons, of course, he was denounced was because he was Jewish,” Gove said. “They got 100 German scientists in the pay of the government to say that he was wrong and Einstein said, ‘Look, if I was wrong, one would have been enough.’” |
| After Gove’s comments, the prime minister told Sky News: “To hear the leave campaign today sort of comparing independent experts and economists to Nazi sympathisers – I think they have rather lost it. | After Gove’s comments, the prime minister told Sky News: “To hear the leave campaign today sort of comparing independent experts and economists to Nazi sympathisers – I think they have rather lost it. |
| “These people are independent – economists who have won Nobel prizes, business leaders responsible for creating thousands of jobs, institutions that were set up after the war to try to provide independent advice. It is right to listen.” | “These people are independent – economists who have won Nobel prizes, business leaders responsible for creating thousands of jobs, institutions that were set up after the war to try to provide independent advice. It is right to listen.” |
| The leave campaign’s Boris Johnson kicked off the last day of the campaign with a visit to Billingsgate fish market in London, before flying across the country to tell voters that 23 June can be “independence day”. | The leave campaign’s Boris Johnson kicked off the last day of the campaign with a visit to Billingsgate fish market in London, before flying across the country to tell voters that 23 June can be “independence day”. |
| Wrapping up his whirlwind tour in Darlington, County Durham, the former London mayor said leave was “on the verge of victory” as he urged voters to “believe in our country” and back Brexit despite the warnings of “Project Fear”. | Wrapping up his whirlwind tour in Darlington, County Durham, the former London mayor said leave was “on the verge of victory” as he urged voters to “believe in our country” and back Brexit despite the warnings of “Project Fear”. |
| “This will not come again,” said Johnson. “Vote Leave tomorrow, take back control of our country and our democracy and stick up for hundreds of millions of people around Europe who agree with us, who agree that the EU is going in the wrong direction.” | “This will not come again,” said Johnson. “Vote Leave tomorrow, take back control of our country and our democracy and stick up for hundreds of millions of people around Europe who agree with us, who agree that the EU is going in the wrong direction.” |