EU referendum: Remain vote would be a huge 'oomph' for Britain's finances, says David Cameron

David Cameron says staying in the EU would bring a "remain dividend"
Chris Lobina/Sky News/PA Wire

David Cameron today pledged a “huge oomph” for Britain if voters choose to stay in the EU.

He said there would be “a Remain dividend” in which jobs, investment and confidence would flood back into London and the country.

His positive message in an exclusive Evening Standard interview contrasted with so-called Project Fear headlines.

Boris Johnson fired a broadside by saying it was actually “the EU straitjacket” holding the country back from doing deals with China and other surging giants.

Writing for the Standard, the former Mayor of London said the capital would trade more widely if it votes to “go global” and leave the EU on June 23.

The clash came as Tory tensions exploded following a threat by George Osborne to increase taxes and cut NHS spending in an emergency Budget if there was a Brexit.

However Boris Johnson says leaving the EU would be better for international deals
Daniel Hambury

Some 57 Conservative MPs — enough to provoke a leadership confidence vote — said they would block it, with ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith complaining that “Project Fear has really gone completely into hyperspace”.

But speaking to the Evening Standard, Mr Cameron gave a markedly upbeat assessment of how the economic mood in Britain could lift if the European question was settled with a vote to Remain.

“Let’s be clear, there is a real upside for London on June 24,” he said. “If we wake up on June 24 [the day of the result] and we are still in the EU, I think there will be a sense of excitement and investment from inward investors and wealth creators.

“I mean a huge oomph and boost I think to London and to Londoners’ jobs and prospects.” It came amid fresh evidence that firms were being held back by Brexit jitters.

Berkeley Homes revealed that reservations for new properties were down by a fifth, while Rolls-Royce and John Lewis both wrote to staff warning of up to five years of “uncertainty” if Britons vote to leave.

The Prime Minister went on: “Of course people are holding back a bit because they want to know the decision, but I think there’s a real Remain dividend on June 24 and beyond.”

But in his article, Mr Johnson retaliated: “Today, it is the EU straitjacket that is actually preventing us from engaging with the rest of the world. Locked in the EU, we cannot do free trade deals with some of the fastest growing economies — in south-east Asia, China, India or America.”

He accused the Remain campaign of “increasingly bizarre and hysterical scaremongering”. By contrast, he claimed, the future was brighter outside Europe.

“If you want our great capital to be genuinely open to the world — rather than locked in and diminished by a failing EU system — then go global, vote Leave, and take back control next week.”

In a letter to workers, John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield said staff had been asking what would be best for the business. “What we have said to them is if the UK votes to leave the European Union it would have an adverse impact on consumer confidence and activity.”

A weaker pound, he added, would mean higher prices, while weaker investment would cost jobs.

Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East, backing a Remain vote, told BBC Radio 4: “The uncertainty and the putting decisions on hold is the problem. Our US competitors don’t have to cope with that uncertainty.”

Mr Cameron predicted the Conservatives would quickly reunite after the vote. He said yesterday’s Cabinet meeting was “perfectly civil”.

The FTSE and the pound rallied slightly in early trading today, following a poll by YouGov in The Sun that showed Remain ahead by a 46-45 margin.

Unemployment has fallen to an eight-year low, figures revealed. The jobless total was cut by 20,000 in the quarter to April to 1.67 million, the lowest since the spring of 2008.

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