Leading proponents of the "Leave" and "Remain" campaigns sparred in a final televised debate before Britain will vote on whether it will remain in the European Union.
Those in favor of "Brexit"—Britain’s exit from the EU—emphasized the need for the United Kingdom to take back control of its economy and borders, while those who want to remain in the Union warned British citizens that exiting would be a "one-way leap into the dark," with potentially devastating economic implications.
Boris Johnson, London’s former mayor, a member of the Conservative Party, and a leading proponent of the campaign to leave the EU, clashed with his successor Sadiq Khan, a member of the Labour Party, over the economy, immigration, and Britain’s role on the international stage.
Britain’s possible exit from the EU has garnered warnings from world leaders, including President Obama. British Prime Minister David Cameron has also vocally opposed Brexit, telling voters in a last-ditch appeal Tuesday to consider the ramifications for future generations of an exit from the EU.
Members of the "Remain" campaign made similar arguments during the nearly two-hour live television debate on Tuesday evening, the last of its kind before British citizens will vote in the referendum on Thursday. Khan, along with Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, and Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, characterized exiting the EU as a gamble that could have grave economic and rights implications. He accused the Leave campaign of not having a plan in place to guide Britain in a post-Brexit world.
"You want the British public to take a one-way leap into the dark without a plan," said Khan during the debate, which featured questions from a roughly 6,000-person strong audience split evenly between supporters of each campaign.
"I know the EU isn’t perfect, but the benefits far outweigh any costs," Davidson explained during closing remarks. "The Britain that I know works with its neighbors. It doesn’t walk away from them." Davidson said British citizens would not be able to reverse a decision to leave the EU.
These claims were rejected by Brexit proponents. Johnson, Labour member of Parliament Gisela Stuart, and Conservative energy minister Andrea Leadsom all expressed confidence that a Britain untethered from the EU could write its own trade agreements, control its borders, and shed EU laws and regulations.
"We do not need unelected, bureaucratic European leaders … to tell us what our rights should be," said Leadsom. "We should take back control and look after our own society."
"They say we can’t do it; we say we can. They say we have no choice but to bow down to Brussels; we say that they are woefully underestimating this country and what we can do," Johnson said. "I believe that this Thursday can be our country’s Independence Day."
Both sides accused the other of resorting to scare tactics in order to sell their positions to the public.
The British public is split on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the EU, according to polling tracked by the Economist since the campaigns for and against Brexit officially launched in mid-April. As of Monday, 44 percent of voters wanted to remain in the EU, while 43 percent favored Brexit.
Tuesday’s heated debate took place after both campaigns paused in the wake of the brutal murder of Jo Cox, a Labour member of British parliament, last Thursday.
Brexit has become a contentious subject of discussion on the international stage, with Obama warning Britain against leaving the EU in April and British Conservatives rebuking him for doing so.
Obama alleged that it could take as much as a decade to negotiate a trade deal with the U.K. if Britain leaves the EU, which ‘Remain’ campaign advocates seized on during Tuesday’s debate as a reason for staying in the union.
"We go to the back of the queue. That’s not what we said … that’s what Obama said," Davidson remarked.
Chris Grayling, the leader of the British House of Commons, accused Obama of playing politics during remarks on Capitol Hill last month and recommended that American politicians stay out of the debate. Johnson has also lambasted Obama for advocating for Britain to remain in a "deeply anti-democratic" union.
A dozen members of the House and Senate, including Rep. Mac Thornberry (R., Texas) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), have written Obama in recent days, pleading him to remain neutral in the days ahead of the referendum.
"Regardless of the outcome of the referendum, citizen of the United Kingdom should know that we will continue to regard our relations with the United Kingdom as a central factor in the foreign, security, and trading policies of the United States," they wrote.