Stop the insults, give us an honest debate

With just 17 days to the EU referendum, the Remain camp is looking distinctly rattled. As opinion polls show it steadily losing ground, the tone of the arguments grows ever more petulant and bad-tempered.

twice in recent days, David Cameron has snapped at tV journalists who had the temerity to press him on the vital issue of border control and on whether his prophesies of economic doom were based on anything more than guesswork. And in a tV debate on thursday, he became red-faced and tetchy when a student in the audience justifiably accused him of ‘waffling’. there have also been unedifying personal attacks on opponents. in an interview yesterday, Mr Cameron said he would make Boris Johnson and Michael Gove ‘pay’ for supporting Brexit. he didn’t specify how but there was real venom in his words.

then, we had the bizarre sight of Sir John Major lambasting Mr Johnson on the BBC as ‘a court jester’, calling him a liar and describing the Leave campaign as ‘verging on the squalid’.

this from the most hopeless tory prime minister of modern times whose record on Europe was lamentable. As Chancellor, he took us into the disastrous Exchange Rate Mechanism and two years later, as PM, watched us crash out again as interest rates soared to 15 per cent.

Freed from the ERM chains, Britain’s economy soon began an extraordinary revival – no thanks to Sir John. his hypocrisy in lecturing anyone on our relationship with Europe is breathtaking. Perhaps a little humility might be more appropriate.

Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne cranked up Project Fear, claiming – with no corroboration other than concocted treasury forecasts – that a Leave vote could add £1,500 a year to mortgages. By comparison, Messrs Gove and Johnson were almost statesmanlike, refusing to enter a slanging match and painting a positive picture of Britain as a sovereign nation once more.

it’s not just the increasing shrill tone of Remain supporters that is troubling. Where is their positive message? they warn of everything from financial ruin to World War three if we leave but offer no vision for the future if we don’t. they say Brexit would be ‘a leap in the dark’ but what about the dangers of staying in?

the eurozone teeters on a precipice, unemployment in several member states has climbed to unsustainable heights, the migration crisis deepens by the day and the far Right is on the rise across the continent. there are even doubts over whether the EU can survive in its present form – with or without Britain.

And today it emerges that our bill for membership may rise by £2.4billion – and we may have to contribute to future eurozone banking bailouts. Why does Mr Cameron not address these issues?

At the start of this campaign he promised the British people ‘a proper, reasoned debate’. instead we’ve had nothing but scaremongering and obfuscation on the real issues – sovereignty, democracy and border control.

With that kind of contempt for the voters, is it any wonder that growing numbers are eyeing the exit door?