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Brexit would be "terrifying to behold" ”“ Jon Snow

Veteran British broadcaster Jon Snow has declared that "the vision of what happens if Brexit succ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

12.34 16 Jun 2016


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Brexit would be "terri...

Brexit would be "terrifying to behold" ”“ Jon Snow

Newstalk
Newstalk

12.34 16 Jun 2016


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Veteran British broadcaster Jon Snow has declared that "the vision of what happens if Brexit succeeds is terrifying to behold".

The Channel 4 anchor was talking on this morning's Pat Kenny Show, and giving his verdict on whether or not the UK will vote to leave the EU on June 23rd.

Snow said:
"My hunch is that undecided will allow the fear factor to drive it into the 'Remain' camp. And I think it's still possible we'll get a 60/40 look at the end to 'Remain'.

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"But the danger is, I'm wrong.

It's one of [those] Donald Rumsfeld 'unknown unknowns'."

Snow argued that while a number of new polls are showing that the 'Leave' campaign is in the lead, such surveys are notoriously poor at giving an accurate indicator of how a referendum will go.

Unlike the Scottish referendum on independence, he said, a Brexit is not a "digestable event" for the ordinary citizen:

"It's extremely difficult to test in a referendum. Referenda are notoriously bad at testing anything. Everywhere I go there is complete confusion, people really don't know about the matter at hand."

Snow was also highly critical of David Cameron's decision to call the referendum in the first place.

"It will mar his leadership for all time," he said. 

"Whatever the result, it was a ridiculous thing to do. It was a very dangerous thing to do, and it was a thing that was done in order to resolve a slit within his own party...

"Which was a terrible example of putting party above State, before national interest."

He predicted a general election would follow hot on the heels of the referendum if a Brexit comes to pass, and also poured water on some people's optimism that, even if it was outside of the EU, the UK was a big enough player to strike a deal to keep lots of things as they were at no extra cost.

Instead, there will be "a tremendous effort not to make it easy for the Brits."

Earlier on Newstalk Breakfast, former Times political editor Philip Webster opined that "these are desperate times for the 'Remain' camp" as British Prime Minister Cameron is reined in from campaigning to allow major Labour figures to appeal to voters, particularly in the north of the nation.

"He didn't take much persuading," Webster noted of Cameron. "People clearly are not taking what he says seriously; they're not believing Cameron."

It's won't be rosy for Labour if a Brexit comes to pass, either.

He said:

"The Labour leadership will get blamed...

"It's only the last few days that we've seen Jeremy Corbyn, the leader, out there campaigning hard for a 'Remain vote..."

Pointing to the "dissatisfaction" within the part, he said:

"The suspicion has always been of course Corbyn himself is a secret 'outer'."

And what of the people over the age of 50 planning to vote 'Leave'?

"They remember when Britain was great. They think– wrongly in my view– that those days can be regained if we're out of the thrall of Brussels and in a position to make our own decisions on everything."


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