Fury as Dave says: If you love Britain vote to stay
PATRIOTS should vote Remain because the idea of Britain being a sovereign country outside the EU is an illusion, David Cameron claimed yesterday.
In comments that angered Tory MPs, the Prime Minister said staying inside the Brussels club would make the UK stronger, safer and better off.
He also claimed Britain would be forced to accept continued free movement of EU workers as the price of any post-Brexit trade deal with the bloc – just as Norway and Switzerland have.
Eurosceptic campaigners hit back, saying the real threat to British sovereignty came from unelected Brussels officials. And they pointed out that the dynamic UK economy – and status as a key market for goods from Europe – would give it a much stronger bargaining hand in the event of a vote to leave.
Mr Cameron made his comments in an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday in which he insisted repeatedly that quit- ting would be a dangerous ‘leap in the dark’. Confronting the key Eurosceptic argument that Britain could only be in control of its own destiny outside Europe, he said: ‘If Britain were to leave the EU that might give you a feeling of sovereignty, but you’ve got to ask yourself is it real? Would you have the power to help businesses and make sure they weren’t discriminated against in Europe? No, you wouldn’t.
‘Would you have the power to insist that European countries share with us their border information so we know what terrorists and criminals are doing in Europe? No you wouldn’t.
‘Would you, if suddenly a ban was put on for some bogus health reasons on one of our industries, would you be able to insist that that ban was unpicked? No you wouldn’t.
‘So you have an illusion of sovereignty but you don’t have power. You don’t have control. You can’t get things done. And to me this is in a way quite simple. You boil it down to if you love this country – and I love this country so much – you want what’s best for it.
‘And you want to make sure we are stronger, we’re safer, we’re better off, we’re able to get things done in the world. That’s what this is about – that’s really the question we have to ask.’
But Chris Grayling, a Cabinet minister campaigning for exit, said: ‘Sovereignty is an important part of this debate. It is about whether we want to be able to be able to govern ourselves or let others take the decisions for us. If you a proud citizen of what should be an independent UK and do not want to be governed by Brussels, then you should vote to leave.’
Justice minister Dominic Raab, who is in charge of the Government’s bill of rights, said: ‘We can have an ivory tower debate about sovereignty. But the reality in a democracy is that the public must get to throw out its rulers, if they choose to.
‘With 60 per cent of all our laws made in or derived from the EU, Brussels has tested the democratic contract between the people and their lawmakers to breaking point.’
In the same interview the Prime Minister claimed Britain would have to accept continued unlimited migration and have to hand over a ‘contribution’ to the EU budget.
He said: ‘If we were to leave the EU and we were to try to insist on full access to the single market, like Norway has for instance, every other country that’s got that sort of deal has had to accept the free movement of people and a contribution to the EU budget,’ he said.