High Peak Liberal Democrats

Remain is losing momentum – time to change tack

With Boris declaring for Leave at a point where Remain has finally played its less than decisive hand, there is a distinct feeling abroad that the referendum momentum has shifted from Remain towards Leave.

As I see it, the Remain camp is stuck with five problems.

1. People have had enough of a constant stream of dire warnings about life after Brexit and are coming to the conclusion that the Remain argument is based on scaremongering.
2. We face a largely hostile press that will continue to urge the public to support Leave.
3. The 'what have the Romans ever done for us' view of our EU membership has produced a list that is good but not compelling.
4. The Dad's Army 'us and them' view of Europe creates an atmosphere of suspicion that favours a Leave result.
5. Most crucially of all, the Remain case lacks passion and vision.

On this last point, consider the appeal of the Leave case. A Britain unchained from Europe, resurgent and powerful enough as the 5^th largest economy can take on the world. Talk of stepping out of the shadows and into the light, pessimism versus hope. It's the prose of Remain versus the poetry of Leave. Remain is rational. Leave is emotional. And which is more appealing to an electorate bamboozled by conflicting facts, rationality or emotion?

So how should Remain proceed? What can we do to inject some emotion into the Remain cause?

We cannot afford to enter the final month of the campaign level in the polls against the backdrop of a worsening refugee crisis in Europe. This could easily be the issue that pushes the Don't Knows to make up their minds to pull up the drawbridge and Leave. The Remain camp needs to demonstrate that the crisis is under control or is at least solvable. This is a big ask and means engaging with the EU in fashioning a European political solution to the crisis. Tim Farron's call to support 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children would be a cornerstone of such a policy.

We cannot ask people to vote for the status quo when Leave is promising something more emotionally compelling. We must develop something better than the status quo, an inspiring role for Britain in a reformed EU. David Cameron has secured a guarantee that Britain will be exempt from further political integration. This needs to be articulated as a positive vision of a better Europe for every member state based on a closely integrated Eurozone core and a loosely integrated fringe. Britain would play a leading role among the fringe states countering Michael Howard's 'one size fits all' anachronism claims.

We have to promote a positive image of being European. Most people would probably not describe themselves as British European and many see the EU as largely irrelevant. There are 2 million Brits living and working in the EU. Let's tell their stories and show how not just a few, but millions of British European lives have been improved through the EU.

Above all, the Remain camp must seize back the initiative. Cameron must change tack, abandon the idea that this is a campaign to save the Conservative party and recognise that our continued EU membership transcends party politics. Only a coherent coalition of Remain forces across the political spectrum focused on winning the hearts and minds of the Don't Knows can deliver a Remain victory.

* Phil Aisthorpe has been a Lib Dem member since September 2015 having previously been a life-long Labour supporter. In a previous life, Phil worked as an IT planning manager and business strategy manager with a leading UK financial services organisation.

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