Obama will head to London to wade into Brexit debate ‘as a friend’
Obama will head to London to wade into Brexit debate ‘as a friend’
Activists hit the streets Friday for the first official day of campaigning over Britain’s “Brexit” referendum, firing the starting pistol on a tense 10-week battle over Britain’s future in Europe.
Opinion polls suggest the British public is evenly split ahead of the June 23 vote, which could bring down Prime Minister David Cameron and plunge one of the world’s leading economies into uncertainty.
The referendum — Britons’ first direct say on the divisive issue of Europe in more than 40 years — is also being nervously watched in Washington and Brussels, where a “Brexit” would add to a long list of EU crises.
“We absolutely think we’re going to win it,” Peter Reeve, a spokesman for the UK Independence Party (UKIP), told AFP as he campaigned in Peterborough — a market town in eastern England where an influx of East European workers has angered many locals.
London mayor Boris Johnson will lead a “Brexit blitz” with rallies on Friday and Saturday where he will try to persuade Britons that they could thrive if cut free from EU red tape.
Mr Johnson has compared leaving the bloc to escaping from prison, saying the referendum was “like the jailer has accidentally left the door of the jail open and people can see the sunlit lands beyond”. In the “Remain” corner is Mr Cameron, who says Britain has a “special status” within the EU thanks to a renegotiation he sealed in February, and that the country will be richer and stronger if it stays in.
Meanhwhile, US President Barack Obama will put himself in an unusual, and risky, position next week in as he is planning to visit London to wade into the heated British debate over whether to remain part of the European Union.
The White House believes the UK is better off economically and politically if it stays part of the EU. In a candid argument, Mr Obama will likely make during a news conference and a town hall with young Britons.
The White House normally goes out of its way to avoid the appearance of meddling in other nations’ elections when scheduling visits abroad. But just two months ahead of the June 23 referendum on Britain’s possible exit, Mr Obama will appear next to his friend and ally, PM David Cameron, who is leading the “In” campaign.
