MICHAEL Gove has "lost it", David Cameron has said after his cabinet colleague compared the warnings of economic experts about the fall-out of Brexit to the Nazis smearing Albert Einstein in the 1930s.

The Prime Minister said the Scot had made a "massive mistake," considering some of the experts were Nobel Prize winners and the weight of opinion was warning strongly about a threat to jobs and family finances.

"To hear the Leave campaign today sort of comparing independent experts and economists to Nazi sympathisers; they have rather lost it,” declared Mr Cameron.

Read more: Michael Gove compares economic experts warning against Brexit to Nazis

"These people are independent; economists, who have won Nobel prizes, business leaders responsible for creating thousands of jobs, institutions that were set up after the war to try to provide independent advice. It is right to listen."

In a joint statement, three respected economic think-tanks have said that almost all those who had looked seriously at the consequences of Brexit had agreed, that it would highly likely harm the living standards of UK households.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) stressed: "In our lifetimes we have never seen such a degree of unanimity among economists on a major policy issue."

The Herald:

The economists also rejected Leave camp suggestions that they were biased because they received EU funding or UK Government support, noting: "What we publish and say is not, and never has been, influenced by our funding.

"None of our funding is dependent on being either pro-EU or pro-government - as our frequent vocal criticisms of each in the past should make clear," they added.

Mr Gove claimed experts could not always be trusted and pointed to the German scientists used to denounce Einstein, telling LBC: "We have to be careful about historical comparisons but Albert Einstein during the 1930s was denounced by the German authorities for being wrong and his theories were denounced and one of the reasons, of course, he was denounced was because he was Jewish."

Read more: Debate throws into sharp focus question of whom we trust to protect our rights

Mr Cameron used an interview on the radio station to hit back at the Justice Secretary, saying: "I'm afraid the Leave campaign here are making a massive mistake.

"If in our country, you now look at these people, some of them won Nobel Prizes, many of them are working for independent institutions we set up after the war. These businesses don't normally come off the fence on an issue like this and speak so clearly.

"When you've got that weight of opinion saying there's a real risk to the British economy, to jobs, to families' finances, then it really is worth listening,” insisted the PM.

"If we're going to go to a world where we say: 'I'm not going to listen to experts', that's an extraordinary thing to do."

The Herald:

Mr Cameron rejected suggestions that he would sack Mr Gove from the Cabinet after the referendum.

Asked directly if it would be difficult for the pair to work together, the PM replied: "Well, no, as I say I don't think it will be because all Conservatives agree it was right to have a referendum and it's right to carry out the instructions of people.

"This is not about some sort of Tory psychodrama and who likes who and who, and all the rest of it. This is about the future of our country," he added.

With less than 24 hours to go to voting, opinion polls were pointing to a knife-edge result.

Read more: Ruth Davidson accuses Brexit campaign of 'selling a lie' as she clashes with Boris Johnson

Mr Cameron and Boris Johnson both adopted quotes from the 2014 Scottish campaign with the former talking about being “better together” and the latter about “independence day”.

The Tory leader made clear he expected to remain PM even if voters chose Brexit, telling the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I will accept the instructions of the British people and get to work on Friday morning to deliver them."

The former London mayor agreed that his Tory colleague should "stay under any circumstances".

Mr Cameron rejected Leave claims that Britain would be "shackled to a corpse" if it chose to stick in the EU, telling supporters in Bristol the Remain case could be summed up in the single word "Together".

"If we want a bigger economy and more jobs, we are better if we do it together," he declared.

"If we want to fight climate change, we are better if we do it together. If we want to win against the terrorists and keep our country safe, we are better if we do it together."

Mr Johnson, however, said it was "time to break away from the failing and dysfunctional EU system", telling activists in Maldon, Essex: "I do think that we are on the verge, possibly, of an extraordinary event in the history of our country and indeed in the whole of Europe.

"It's all going to be about getting our supporters out to vote and if we do it I really think tomorrow can be independence day."

Criss-crossing the country by plane, the Uxbridge MP signed autographs and posed for selfies with supporters in a number of locations but was heckled by 17-year-old Will Taylor in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, who said: "I'm annoyed that I can't vote and as a young person it's my future."

Mr Cameron was joined in Bristol by Labour's former deputy leader Harriet Harman as well as his predecessor as Tory PM Sir John Major, who branded the Brexit camp "the grave-diggers of our prosperity" who would have to answer for their "lies" during the referendum campaign.

Leaving the EU would be a "disproportionate" response to migration concerns and the country would live to regret it for a "long time to come", insisted Sir John.

"If our nation does vote to leave, we must respect their decision, but if they vote to leave on the basis of half-truths and untruths and misunderstandings, then pretty soon the grave-diggers of our prosperity will have some very serious questions to answer," he added.

Remain campaigners hailed a pro-EU letter to the Times, signed by 1,285 businesspeople employing 1.75 million workers, including 51 FTSE100 companies and 910 small businesses, who said Brexit would mean "uncertainty for our firms, less trade with Europe and fewer jobs".

Meantime, it was reported that sugar giant Tate & Lyle had told employees that leaving the EU would benefit the business and protect their jobs.

The Leave campaign also highlighted comments from Markus Kleber, head of the BDI - or federation of German industries - who urged the EU to agree a free trade deal with the UK after Brexit, warning it would "very, very foolish" to attempt to impose tariffs on the departing former member.