President Barack Obama is set to enter the Brexit debate when he visits the United Kingdom next week, with a clear call for Britain to remain part of the European Union.
Obama believes that while it’s a decision for the British people, it’s also in the interests of the United States, the U.K. and the rest of the EU to keep the bloc together. A vote to leave would diminish Britain’s influence in the world, the president’s advisers told reporters on a conference call Thursday.
“If he’s asked his view as a friend, he will offer it,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said. “We believe that all of us benefit when the EU can speak with a strong and single voice, and can work with us to advance our shared interests, whether on security or prosperity.”
Obama will arrive in London as part of a trip to Europe and the Middle East just as the Brexit referendum debate shifts up a gear. Today is the first day of official campaigning ahead of the June 23 vote, with some polls suggesting the outcome is too close to call.
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling used a speech in London on Friday to criticize what he calls the “Project Fantasy” being promoted by leave campaigners. Brexit is likely to deplete trade with the continent, he said.
If the U.K. leaves the 28-nation bloc and negotiates a new trade deal in the mold of Canada’s, commerce with the EU may decline by 92 billion pounds ($131 billion), Darling said. Citing new research from Frontier Economics and London First, a nonprofit business group that promotes the capital’s interests, he dismissed the idea that Britain can secure a better trading relationship on the outside.
“If we choose to remain, we will retain our ability to shape international cooperation over development, human rights, intelligence-sharing and security, climate change, global commerce, peacekeeping, the behavior of multinational companies and working people’s rights,” according to Darling, who served under Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. “In a complex and fast-changing world, when the defining decisions are taken, Britain will be at the table.”
London Mayor Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove will say that investment in the National Health Service would increase if Britain pulls out as money paid into the EU could be spent at home, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. Johnson and Gove, who are senior figures in the campaign to leave, are both members of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, another Euro-skeptic Conservative lawmaker, said Obama’s intervention might help the campaign to Leave the EU.
“I don’t mind him coming over to say what he wants because I think it helps Brexit,” Rees-Mogg told the House magazine, which is distributed to members of Parliament. “I can’t think the British people will want to be told what to do by a rather unsuccessful American president who has had one of the least successful foreign policies in modern history.”
Obama will have lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle and hold a joint press conference with Cameron during his visit.
(c) 2016, Bloomberg ยท Ben Sills, Thomas Penny
