Questions the Brexiteers must answer
AFTER months of hard pounding, the EU referendum battlefield looks rather like the First World War front line – a fiercely contested sea of mud in which two equally matched sides have almost exhausted themselves (and each other) with immense barrages.
Both have done quite a bit of damage, but the Leave campaign has suffered more direct hits than it has scored. Most observers would agree the Remain forces have deployed the heavier artillery and have seized and kept the initiative.
Like the wartime generals, the Leave leaders seem inclined to do the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result. So we can expect another bombardment of questionable facts or risky use of the immigration issue.
Yet in the midst of the claims and counter-claims there are still interesting and cogent voices. Tory MP Jacob ReesMogg, a courteous, independent thinker with a tough mind, is Brexit’s most engaging figure. He accepts that leaving the EU would mean economic uncertainty – but argues this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Crucially, he argues this is a decisive moment, that the verdict of the British people must be respected, and ‘there must be no excuse for a second referendum, however narrow the margin of victory for either side’. This is wise and responsible.
From the other side, Sir John Major – writing in this newspaper – shows again that his reputation for mild dullness is undeserved. He excoriates the exit faction with a merciless cross-examination on economic facts and migration. And he makes a tough case for the position he himself took, of fiercely defending British interests while remaining at the centre of the EU.
He is entitled to point out, as he does, that he wisely kept Britain out of the euro and the Schengen agreement on open borders, while securing many benefits from the single market.
It is this argument – that Britain can continue to fight its corner within the EU while gaining greatly from it – which poses the greatest danger to those who would march out of the EU and slam the door behind them. They have just under four weeks to make their case.