Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday, 8 April 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Reuters: British Prime Minister David Cameron will urge young Britons on Thursday to make sure they vote in a 23 June referendum on membership of the European Union, warning that leaving the bloc would hit them the hardest.
With public opinion evenly split, youth voters are expected to play an important role in the referendum outcome because polling shows they are generally more pro-European, but less inclined to vote.
Cameron, who wants Britain to stay in the 28-country bloc, will speak at the launch of a campaign targeted specifically at young voters.
“Get out there. Register. Vote. Tell your parents, grandparents, friends and colleagues: this referendum will really help determine whether your generation is stronger, safer and better off,” he will say according to extracts of his speech.
Cameron will argue that young people’s job prospects would be disproportionately affected by the economic impact of an EU exit: “Who gets hit hardest by those shocks? Young people,” he will say.
Rival “Out” campaigners dismissed that claim, saying that money sent to Brussels under Britain’s membership terms was adding to the national debt that would have to be paid off by young workers.
Eurosceptics were also angered by the government’s decision to spend 9.3 million pounds ($13.09 million) on 6-page leaflet setting out “why it believes that remaining in the EU is the best decision for the UK.”
“This is not the facts, it is a misleading government propaganda campaign,” said Vote Leave chairwoman Gisela Stuart.
“The public want an honest debate conducted by two competing sides, not an attempt by the prime minister to buy the referendum result with the public’s money.”
The leaflet will be sent to every household in the country and promoted online to meet voter demand for more information on how to cast their ballot, the government said.
