AFP – The Guardian is a staunch “Remain” supporter, while The Sun has come out for Brexit. Britain’s newspapers are split as Thursday’s referendum on European Union membership approaches.
Remain camp:
– The left-leaning Guardian newspaper called for a vote in favour of staying in the EU on Monday. “Vote for a united country that reaches out to the world, and vote against a divided nation that turns inwards. Vote to remain,” its editorial implored.
The newspaper even published a guide on how to “make sure Britain remains a member of the EU”, recommending convincing friends and neighbours and posting on social media.
Its Sunday sister paper, The Observer, has also backed “Remain”.
– The Times, a traditional bastion, revealed Saturday that it backed Britain staying in the EU and securing reforms to the bloc.
“The best outcome of next week’s referendum would be a new alliance of sovereign EU nations dedicated to free trade and reform, led by Britain,” it said in a 2,000-word editorial.
The newspaper accused the pro-Brexit campaign of exaggerating the sums Britain pays into Brussels and misleading voters on the likelihood of Turkey joining the EU.
The Sunday Times and The Sun, which are also owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, have both backed an exit.
– The Independent supports “Remain”. “A vote to remain in the EU is not a vote of cowardice but of confidence; it is not a vote to cede control but to get things done collaboratively in a globalised world,” it wrote in a Monday editorial.
– The Mail on Sunday has backed staying in the EU for a “safer, freer, more prosperous” Britain and warned against a “leap into the dark” that could make the country poorer.
“For modern Great Britain to thrive and prosper we must work with, not against, our European partners,” it argued in a Sunday editorial.
Leave camp:
– Britain’s top-selling newspaper The Sun urged its readers to back Brexit with a front page that read “BeLEAVE in Britain”.
“Vote Leave, and we will reassert our sovereignty — embracing a future as a self-governing, powerful nation envied by all,” it argued.
Britain’s future would be “far bleaker” within the EU and would be swallowed by a “relentlessly expanding German-dominated federal state”, the editorial read.
– The Daily Telegraph appealed for an exit from the EU in its Tuesday edition.
“A world of opportunity awaits a fully independent United Kingdom. In supporting a vote to leave the EU, we are not harking back to some Brittanic golden age,” it argued.
“If this Thursday’s referendum is a choice between fear and hope, then we choose hope.”
Its sister paper the Sunday Telegraph has also backed Brexit.
– The Sunday Times has taken a different stance to its sister paper The Times.
“Yes, we must be prepared for difficulties, but we should hold our nerve,” it wrote this weekend.
“This vote may be the best opportunity we shall ever have to call a halt to the onward march of the centralising European project driven by the inherent flaws in the eurozone.”
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