http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/17/eu-referendum-the-times-the-sun-brexithttp://www.thetimes.co.uk/?sundayThe Times’s editorial in Saturday’s issue concedes that, for most Britons, voting to remain inside the EU “would be a pragmatic rather than enthusiastic choice, made despite the behaviour of Brussels rather than because of it”.
To vote to leave “would be a vote of no confidence in the European project so shattering that it would rock it to the core, with unknown and possibly alarming consequences”.
It sees the “choice between change and a version of the status quo” as one “between risk and risk aversion” and argues that change “has inspired voters” because it “is more exciting than continuity, and because the status quo has become a byword for frustration”.
The paper thinks the institutions in Brussels are “undemocratic, meddling and short-sighted”, pointing to their failure to cope with the refugee crisis and the “token concessions” granted to Cameron when he sought a new EU relationship for Britain.
In such a situation, it is “the Brexiteers who seem to stand for freedom … Their vision is of a proud new independence and their account of how to get there has the romance of adventure… They are freebooting cavaliers to remain’s sturdy roundheads”.
Sign up to our EU referendum morning briefing
Read more
But the leave campaigners have varnished reality, says the paper. “It is not true that Britain sends £350m a week to Brussels … It is not true that EU migration is the main cause of pressure on the NHS … It is not true that Turkey is on a path to EU membership.”
Brexit, contends the Times, would not answer “the prayers of those Vote Leave is wooing.” And “a vote for Brexit is unquestionably economically riskier than a vote to remain”.
In a key paragraph, the newspaper states: “This referendum has rightly been a thunderous rebuke to Europe and a solid Brexit vote should shake Brussels out of its complacency. If Mr Cameron wins, he must seize the moment to galvanise other disgruntled allies from Denmark to Dubrovnik for a new assault on waste, red tape and anti-democratic interference.”
The Times is convinced that if Cameron wins the vote to stay in, he “would be at the peak of his powers” and “could go down in history as both an effective campaigner and the leader of a reform movement in Europe”.
It concludes that staying in “may not sound as exhilarating or romantic as a defiant march to Brexit, but it is the better choice for Britain and Europe”.