Ex-UK Labour leaders urge pro-EU vote

London / AFP

Former leaders of Britain’s main opposition Labour on Saturday urged supporters to vote in favour of EU membership at this month’s referendum.
Six senior figures including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown said that, unless the party’s supporters turned out to vote on June 23, there was a risk of Brexit.
Current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised by some over his relatively low-profile support for remaining in the EU. The veteran socialist—deeply sceptical of the EU for much of his career—has made a small number of speeches on the referendum and refuses to campaign alongside Prime Minister David Cameron.
“If Labour stays at home, Britain leaves,” the former Labour leaders wrote in a letter published by the Guardian newspaper.
“And a vote to leave is a vote for a profound and permanent loss the whole country would feel, whether through lost jobs or lost generations.”
“Only Labour can save Britain from Brexit.”
The letter warned that leaving the EU could cause a recession, leading to spending cuts by Cameron’s Conservatives and “a bonfire of workers’ rights”.