David Cameron
risks losing Britain’s EU referendum by fighting a campaign based on fear rather than articulating the positive case for remaining in the EU, Scotland’s Europe minister has warned. Humza Yousaf said that emphasising issues such as migration and focusing on the risks involved in leaving the EU could prove disastrous.
"It's a dreadful way to run a campaign. As you've seen from the Scottish independence referendum, although many people came towards the Yes camp for policy reasons, many of them, I've got no doubt, came because of what they thought was scaremongering, fearmongering – what seemed like bullyboy tactics. So what we've got to do is make the positive case for remaining in the European Union, " he told The Irish Times.
Mr Yousaf will be speaking about the implications of the EU referendum to the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Dundalk tomorrow and to the British Irish Chamber of Commerce on Friday. He said the referendum campaign must take account of the anti-establishment mood across the UK by ensuring that the case for remaining in the EU is made by a diverse range of voices.
“If it looks like the Establishment is forcing a Remain campaign, based on fear, down people’s throats and the authentic grassroots voices, business people, students and others are not being heard, then I think that could be extremely dangerous,” he said.
Polls show opinion almost equally divided across the UK as a whole on whether the country should remain part of the EU, with some recent polls suggesting that the Leave side has pulled ahead. In Scotland, however, every poll has shown the Remain side with a clear lead, raising the prospect that the UK as a whole could vote to leave, while a majority of Scots vote to remain in the EU.
First minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that such an outcome could precipitate a second referendum on Scottish independence.
“That will be for the people to decide but I have to say, many people have said that they would switch their vote from a No vote to a Yes vote if that is the case,” Mr Yousaf said.
“There are other hypotheticals of course. The UK as a whole could vote to stay in the European Union but only because of votes that have come from Scotland. So the rest of the UK, or England, could marginally vote to leave but the Scottish votes could tip the balance. That could raise other constitutional questions.”
