TODAY IS OUR DAY, SAYS GOVE
He issues passionate plea not to let down future generations
MICHAEL Gove today declares that Britain is facing this generation’s ‘D-Day’– with a choice between becoming a prosperous, sovereign nation once again, or a poorer, less secure one inside the EU.
In the most passionate plea of the campaign, the Justice Secretary urges the public not to ‘flinch’ or let down future generations whose lives would be diminished by Brussels.
Rejecting the pessimism of the Remain camp, led by David Cameron, he told the Mail: This is D-Day. It’s democracy day. It is an opportunity for us to demonstrate a vote of confidence in our country and its ingenuity, its generosity, its tolerance and its potential.
‘We have got to have confidence in our institutions. Britain gave the world parliamentary democracy. It gave the world common law traditions, trial by jury and the principle of innocent until proven guilty.
‘We gave the world moral leadership in the fight against slavery and the fight against fascism.
‘We gave the world the NHS and public service broadcasting and we did all these things as a self-governing democracy.
‘So the idea that Britain is a rain soaked little island where we eat too much cake – that is just not right. Voting to leave is a rejection of pessimism and an embrace of optimism.’
Speaking on a final campaign visit to Dorset, Mr Gove said this was Britain’s opportunity to ‘ break free’. He continued: ‘If we do not vote to leave tomorrow, then we won’t get the chance to escape the EU for another generation and possibly in our lifetime.
‘And if we vote to stay, the European elites will take that as a vote of confidence in their leadership and a vote for more Europe.
‘More of the same surrender of powers, more of the same lack of control over our money, more of the same lack of democracy.
‘I just think it would be difficult to explain to our children and grandchildren that when we had the opportunity to show confidence in our democracy, that we decided to flinch at the last moment.’
Mr Gove, who confirmed he would be happy to serve in Mr Cameron’s Cabinet once the rancorous referendum contest is over, compared the moment Britain stands at in history with the American Revolution.
He said: ‘The decision the American Revolutionaries had to make in the 1770s about whether or not to continue to be ruled by someone who was distant and unaccountable, who imposed taxes without listening to their voices or whether to break free.
‘They decided to break free then and America has never looked back and the world had cause to be grateful. There will have been all sorts of people then I imagine saying it is a risk, don’t go against the Establishment, can you really survive?
‘In five years’ time, if we stay in the EU, we will be paying more money to bail out a single currency which is failing. We face the prospect of more EU control over our security, our intelligence services having their hands tied.
‘We face the prospect of a rogue European Court making it more difficult for us to deal with terrorism. We also face the prospect of our competitiveness diminishing. My fear is that if we vote to stay in,
‘An embrace of optimism’
Britain will be poorer, less safe. I also worry that it will feel and be less fair because the elites and the establishment will have felt they had a great escape.
‘They will feel that the moment they could have been held to account and we could have taken control has passed.’
On an extraordinary final day. Boris Johnson criss- crossed the country by helicopter. He said: ‘It’s time to speak up for democracy, and hundreds of millions of people around Europe agree with us. It’s time to break away from the failing and dysfunctional EU system.’
Last night, the Remain camp released statements from Mr Cameron and Britain’s three surviving former prime ministers urging to country to vote In.
Mr Cameron said: ‘Today we have assembled the biggest coalition of support in history – from businesses, to trade unions to expert economists and across political parties – for a vote to remain. Quitting Europe is a risk to your family’s future because a vote to leave on Thursday means there is no going back on Friday.’
In what was described as an ‘unprecedented alliance’, the Prime Minister was backed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from the Labour side. Mr Blair said: ‘Britain faces a historic choice between prosperity, influence and security as part of Europe, or a reckless leap in the dark and years of damaging uncertainty. If we vote to leave, there is no going back. Voting Remain will secure Britain’s place as a proud, influential country with a strong economy and a bright future.
Appearing alongside Mr Cameron in Bristol, Sir John Major said the Brexit camp were ‘the gravediggers of our prosperity’.
But Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt hit out at the Remain camp for suggesting those voting for Brexit were ‘little islanders’. She said: ‘It is unfair to tar the millions of people who want to take back control of their laws, their borders and their money with a brush of calling them narrow minded or little islanders or all the other insults thrown at them.
‘That is quite wrong. This is an attempt to make people feel guilty about what they know in their hearts and their heads is the right thing for them and their families and it is a sign that they have lost the arguments.’