EU referendum – the final push

face a difficult challenge to get their vote out on referendum day. Voters leaning towards their side are still largely unenthusiastic about Brussels and so far unexcited about putting their cross on the ballot paper. “By the time polling day comes around, we will have had to really raise the alarm that the vote is on a knife edge and the future of the country is at stake,” said one senior ally of the Prime Minister.

Given the limitations on the “remain” side, tails should be up among the “outers”. Yet there are still jitters within “leave” ranks too. It is still to be seen how well former London mayor Boris Johnson and Tory Cabinet minister Michael Gove perform on the stump away from London. Ukip leader Nigel Farage has raised concerns that Vote Leave is too dominated by Tory MPs tainted by the Government’s failure to deliver the promise of cutting mass immigration to make the case that quitting the EU is the only way to regain control of our borders.

Others fear not enough effort has been made so far to make a Left- ofcentre case for EU exit. “We need to win over more Labour voters,” one senior Eurosceptic MP told me. “Without them, the referendum will be lost.” As the ground campaign is about to begin for real, opinion polls continue to suggest the outcome of the referendum on June 23 is finely balanced.

Insiders in both camps suspect the “out” vote is still being underestimated because older voters who are more likely to be Eurosceptic and actually to use their vote are also less likely to cooperate with the pollsters.

At present, the referendum result does appear to be too close to call. This battle really could come down to which side is prepared to fight for every single vote.