Backers of Brexit shift spotlight to immigration
‘Leave’ camp using data on migrants to highlight ‘headaches’ caused by EU members
Campaigners pushing for Britain to leave the European Union have stepped up their focus on immigration as splits in David Cameron’s Conservative Party threaten to drown out arguments about the economic advantages of remaining in the bloc.
With Tory rebels pouring scorn on their prime minister’s efforts to control the number of arrivals, those fighting for a so-called Brexit seized on a report suggesting up to half a million refugees could be heading for Britain after 2020 if voters pass up the chance to get out of the EU.
As “Leave” campaigners zoom in on immigration, Cameron’s side pushes the benefits of membership for small businesses.
With the June 23 vote just over three weeks away, long-standing tensions in the Conservative party are leading to increasingly personal attacks on Cameron.
As both sides of the EU debate ramp up the rhetoric, the vitriol looks likely to leave scars long after the referendum.
“The ‘Remain’ campaign may try to tell you that immigration and the economy are separate, but the truth is that they are fundamentally linked,” said Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who was, until March, Cameron’s work and pensions secretary. “Immigration is an economic issue because it has had a big impact on people’s wages – forcing them down, even as the cost of living has risen.”