Vote Leave

Vote Leave: safest way for UK to cut costs and keep control

The deciding factor in the forthcoming referendum on the EU will be jobs, not immigration. That’s according to Paul Stephenson, Communications Director and Robert Oxley, Head of Media of Vote Leave. They told FPA members that their campaign had three core messages: cut the cost of £350 million going to the EU every week, take back control over the UK economy and public services, and vote for the safer choice for the future. 

The two spokesmen agreed that the Leave and Remain campaigns were currently neck-and-neck, but leave voters were much more enthusiastic about the referendum than those who wanted to stay. The key battleground was over “the crucial fifth”, the 20% of the electorate who would probably like to leave the EU but might still vote to stay because of fears about jobs. They said Downing Street was clearly behind the stay campaign and their betting was on a September 2016 date. 

The two men said Vote Leave needed to win three key battles: don’t believe the scare stories, realise the EU isn’t working properly and understand that things will be better if we leave. They thought the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign (BSE) was facing some key challenges. It was a disunited coalition of Blairites and Government, its “Project Fear” had been undermined by Stuart Rose saying that “nothing would change if we left the EU.” And finally, BSE lacked a clear message. The two said the later the date of the vote, the more likely Vote Leave was to win the day.