CAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep Britain in the European Union have kept their lead over the Leave camp as a leading pollster warned the referendum vote was still too close to call.
The new combined telephone and internet NatCen poll has a six point lead for Remain, on 53 per cent with Leave on 47 per cent. It echoes the result of
a UK-wide BMG poll four days ago for The Herald that gave Remain a 6.6 per cent lead over the pro-Brexit side.
The pound soared and more than £47 billion was also added to the value of the UK’s biggest companies yesterday as the markets reacted to a series of polls at the weekend that put Remain ahead.
NatCen, who came close to correctly forecasting the outcome of last year’s General Election, asked more than 1,600 UK adults how they would vote on Thursday. It was conducted between May 16 and June 12.
The organisation said the four-week timeframe allowed it to talk to a greater cross-section of the public and go back to hard-to-reach groups multiple times.
Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University and NatCen, said: “It is important to remember the outcome looks so close any lead should be treated with caution.”
Last night a leading SNP MP said Scotland might join the euro single currency if it became independent in the wake of a Brexit vote.
Joanna Cherry said the Scottish Government might reject keeping the pound if Scots opted to leave the UK to stay in the EU. Her comments put her at odds with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has underlined her backing for an independent Scotland keeping the pound in recent days.
Speaking during an EU referendum debate on BBC Scotland’s Reporting Scotland, Ms Cherry said there would be a “groundswell of support” for independence if Scots voted to stay in the EU but the UK as a whole decided to leave.
Asked if Scotland would keep the pound or join the euro, she said: “We’d have to look at the situation pertaining at the time. We probably would not want to be tied to the pound if it nosedived after Brexit.”
Braden Davy, assistant director of Scottish Vote Leave, said it was “an utterly ridiculous idea” adding: “We have seen the destruction the eurozone area has caused in southern Europe, leading to 50 per cent Greek youth unemployment.”
With just 48 hours to go before polls open, Labour will today kick off a two-day blitz focused on jobs and the pound in voters’ pockets.
New figures suggest Scotland could lose 50,000 jobs by 2030 if the UK leaves the EU, but gain an extra 70,000 if it stays. But the Leave campaign claimed unskilled EU migrants cost UK taxpayers an average of £18 a head every month, and up to £45 a month in some areas.
Today Gordon Brown, Jeremy Corbyn and other Labour figures will launch a 48-hour all-out call assault calling for a vote to Remain for “jobs and rights.” Mr Brown will address an audience in Glasgow while others will campaign across the UK.
The CBI highlights Treasury estimates that staying in the EU could create 70,800 future Scottish jobs.
Hugh Aitken, CBI Scotland director, said losing access to the Single Market would be like “pulling the rug from under our local economy.”
He added: “This is why the majority of businesses want the UK to remain inside the EU, to best drive growth, support and create jobs, and increase prosperity for our region.”
New figures, also based on the Treasury analysis, suggest an EU exit would lead to a plunge in overseas investment, costing an estimated 48,230 jobs by 2030.
John Park, from the Community trade union, said access to the EU’s single market was “vital to attract overseas investment and create jobs in Scotland”.
But Economists for Brexit said that unskilled EU migrants cost every UK taxpayer almost £18 a month, and up to £45 a month in some areas.
Overall the cost to the Uk economy was £6.6 billion a year, the group said.
In Portugal, Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, had suggested there could be further reform of the EU.
He said the EU would be “foolish” to ignore a warning signal from the UK, adding that “there are more signals of dissatisfaction with the Union coming from all of Europe, not only from the UK”.
During the BBC Scotland debate, Jim Sillars, the former deputy leader of the SNP and Leave campaigner, said that raising of the prospect of a second independence referendum was “kidology”.
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