RUTH Davidson has accused the Brexit campaign of “selling a lie” to the British people with its arguments for quitting the EU as she clashed with her Tory colleague Boris Johnson in the BBC’s live Great Debate.
In fiery exchanges before an audience of 6,000 people in Wembley Arena, the Scottish Conservative leader told the former London mayor that it was not good enough for him not to spell out what the effect of leaving the EU would have on British jobs and businesses.
But the former London mayor insisted European countries would be "insane" to impose taxes on UK exports if the country “took back control” and left the “morass” of the EU.
Read more: Leave campaign claims Brexit will make Scotland 'more sovereign and independent'
The Uxbridge MP complained: "They are back to Project Fear." But the Scottish Tory leader responded: "Wanting to protect British workers is positive." And as she tried to interrupt Mr Johnson, Ms Davidson complained: “This is not the Boris show.”
Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister, for Leave, said Britain was big enough to go it alone and negotiate better trade deals, denigrating the EU, saying its 28 members could “not even organise a take-away curry".
Emotions ran high on the issue of immigration with Sadiq Khan, Labour’s London Mayor for Remain, insisting Vote Leave’s Project Fear had turned into “Project Hate”.
He slammed what he said was Mr Johnson’s “big fat lie” and scaremongering over Turkey’s accession to the EU but the Tory backbencher hit back, saying accelerating Turkey’s EU membership was UK Government policy.
Yet Ms Davidson claimed the Brexit campaign had sold its prospectus “on a lie” about such issues as Turkish accession and the creation of a European army.
“They lied about those things; it’s not good enough. You deserve the truth,” she told the audience.
Read more: Iain Macwhirter - What would Brexit really mean for Scotland?
There was a further clash on security. After Labour’s Gisela Stuart for Leave said the former Interpol head had argued the EU was not making the continent safe and Ms Leadsom referred to a former head of the British Army, who believed Brexit was better for the country’s defence, Ms Davidson hit back.
The Scots Tory leader insisted she preferred to listen to the experts who currently oversaw the UK’s security and “not those three,” referring to the Brexiters. She said she would vote for the experts “every day of the week and twice on a Sunday”, telling the audience: “Don’t risk it.”
The eve of EU clash came with just one day left for campaigning and a Survation poll, which placed Remain on 45 per cent, narrowly ahead of Leave on 44, with don’t knows on 11.
On the markets, the pound, having made gains earlier in the week as analysts increasingly expected a Remain vote on Friday morning, steadied, ending the day unchanged against the dollar at $1.46 and slightly down against the euro at €0.76.
In Scotland, five politicians who have served as Scotland’s First Minister – Nicola Sturgeon, Alex Salmond, Jack McConnell, Henry McLeish and Jim Wallace – have issued a joint statement for Remain in what they say is an “unprecedented display of unity in the history of the Scottish Parliament”.
Read more: What if the UK opts for Brexit? What happens next?
They stress how staying in the EU and its single market is vital for jobs and investment in Scotland, enshrining key protections for workers and consumers.
“By maximising the Remain vote in Scotland, we could make the difference in keeping the UK in the European Union,” they declare, adding: “Our message to the people of Scotland is to unite as a nation, turn out on Thursday and vote Remain.”
Earlier speaking from the steps of Downing Street, David Cameron played the family card, urging Britons to “think about the hopes and dreams of your children and grandchildren”.
Vote Leave dismissed the Prime Minister’s intervention as a “sign of panic” while earlier, Michael Gove, the leading Brexiter, branded the EU a “job-destroying, misery-inducing, unemployment-creating tragedy”.
Elsewhere, Jeremy Corbyn led a final 48-hour Labour campaign blitz to win over the party’s traditional voters to Remain, using a speech in Manchester to insist an In vote was needed to “reform and improve” the EU for jobs and workers’ rights.
The Labour leader also revealed he was “very, very ready” for a snap general election on the back of a Brexit vote.
In a separate development, Ms Sturgeon admitted the SNP would be prepared to discuss the possibility of an independent Scotland using the euro “if we are in the scenario of a Brexit".
Meantime, Vote Leave unveiled new research on the potential effects of immigration.
It claimed public services were now “buckling” under the pressure of uncontrollable migration and that by 2030 as many as 571,000 school-age children from the EU could be in the UK schools system with an additional annual cost of up to £2bn.
Remain dismissed Leave’s “ludicrous and factually inaccurate claims” and, issuing a joint statement, Alistair Darling, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband said Brexit would “eviscerate our public services" and "leave hard right Tories at the helm".
Figures from the Electoral Commission showed Brexit campaigners were outstripping their Remain rivals in the battle for donations. Of a total of £28.2m donations since February 1, pro-Leave campaigns received £16m while pro- Remain received £12m.
Provisional figures from the elections watchdog also showed a record electorate of 46,499,537 voters; 12,000 more than the previous high in the 2014 Euro elections.
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