EU referendum: Ed Miliband says Brexit camp will win as he calls on young people to vote
Ed Miliband has said that the fate of the EU referendum is in the hands of young people and warned that without their votes, the Leave side will win on 23 June.
Speaking at a campaign event for the Britain Stronger in Europe group this morning, the former Labour leader said, “the EU referendum could be won by the Leave campaign, whose hopes of victory now hang on low registration and low turnout among young people.”
“Be in no doubt: if young people don’t exercise their vote, this referendum will be lost and so will many of their futures.
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Miliband has been making a number of appearances this week as he gears up to take a prominent role in the final four weeks of the referendum campaign. On Thursday, he appeared on BBC’s Question Time and spent the day out and about with Jeremy Corbyn yesterday, raising speculation he is preparing for a return to frontline politics.
Ed and Jeremy on the campaign trail in Doncaster yesterday.
The In campaign claim that of six million eligible young voters, one in four are not on the electoral register.
Miliband went on to attack Leave campaigners for their isolationist and regressive stance.
“They are people who are suspicious of every other EU country’s motives, who see difference as a threat and diversity as a danger; The people who want us to turn our backs on the world, who deny the science of climate change, the people who dismiss the social progress brought by the EU as burdens on business.”
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The Leave side mocked Miliband for trying to win the support of young voters, pointing to his failed experiment last year when he paired up with comedian Russell Brand.
The official campaign period entered a new phase yesterday with the beginning of so-called “purdah” rules – a lockdown on government communications in the run-up to the vote.
The Leave campaign marked the occasion by announcing a new £50m competition to predict every single game in Euro 2016.
Both sides were criticised, however, for their use of “bogus” statistics by the influential Treasury Select Committee, who called for an “amnesty” on dogdy data, including that the UK sends the EU £350m a weak and that three million jobs are dependent on trade with Europe.