Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday warned that Britain’s departure from the European Union would threaten its economic and national security, as the pound plunged to a near seven-year low on Brexi
Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday warned that Britain’s departure from the European Union would threaten its economic and national security, as the pound plunged to a near seven-year low on Brexit concerns.
“Leaving Europe would threaten our economic and our national security,” Mr Cameron said in a report to Parliament after dozens of MPs from his own Conservative party said they will vote for Brexit, including London mayor Boris Johnson.
Mr Cameron has called for an in-out referendum on Britain’s EU membership after securing a deal on reforms at a summit in Brussels last week.
“When it comes to people’s jobs it is simply not enough to say it will be all right on the night and we will work it out,” he told Parliament. “We need to properly face up to the economic consequences of a choice to leave,” he said, warning that it would be “a great leap into the un-known”. Mr Cameron also warned about global thr-eats from Russia and ISIS, saying: “The challenges facing the West today are genuinely threatening... In my view this is no time to divide the West.”
In a barb at London mayor and Conservative party rival Mr Johnson, who declared on Sunday that he would vote to leave the EU, Mr Cameron said: “I have no other agenda that what is best for our country.” Mr Johnson, who is seen as a potential successor to Mr Cameron as Conservative leader and Prime Minister, has been accused of pursuing political ambitions with his decision.
Mr Cameron on Monday said that there would be no second EU referendum, knocking down suggestions that Britain could vote “no” in the June vote to try to get better membership terms. “Sadly I have known a number of couples who have begun divorce proceedings but I do not know any who have begun divorce proceedings in order to renew their marriage vows,” he said,referring to the possiblity of a second vote.
Mr Johnson’s backing for Brexit pits him directly against the Prime Minister — an old acquaintance who won the job that many thought the charismatic mayor of London was always destined for.
Both men are in the Conservative party and were elected MPs in 2001 but their ties go much further back to the 1970s when they attended the prestigious Eton College school and then Oxford Univer-sity. “Call it an Eton mess. This is precisely the confrontation that was not meant to happen,” Guard-ian wrote. It described it as “the battle that David Cam-eron and Boris Johnson have tried to avoid for many years”.
British newspapers jum-ped on the gaffe-prone mayor’s dramatic declaration on Sunday that he would campaign for Britain to leave the EU. The right-wing Daily Telegraph said Monday it was “Cameron’s worst fear”, while the left-leaning Daily Mirror said it was a “Dagger in Cam’s heart” and the Guardian called it a “humiliation” for the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson has been flirting with the pro-Brexit camp for months and has rejected any political calculation behind the decision. But experts said it means he has more chance of succeeding Mr Camer-on, an ambition he is believed to have held ever since university, when he was seen as more popular and intellectually gifted than his 49-year-old rival.
Echoing Mr Cameron’s concerns, Europol on Monday said Britain’s citizens could be left more vulnerable to attacks by terror groups and organised crime gangs if they decide to leave the EU.
“I see a very clear picture of the United Kingdom’s dependency on the EU to help protect its security interest,” Europol’s director Rob Wainwright said in The Hague. Should Britain leave in a “Brexit” it will “no longer have the benefits that it currently has,” Mr Wainwright said.
Meanwhile, Britain’s financial industry stepped up its campaign against the country leaving the EU on Monday.
London’s banking sector is among the industries with the most to lose if Britain leaves the EU, according to many economists who say an exit could hamper its ability to operate in the single European market and lead to thousands of jobs being shifted to the euro zone.
