Tired of the endless debates about the impact of GDP and the Norwegian or Albanian models? Here are five pro-Remain arguments you might not have considered
By Buttonwood
BARELY a day goes by without some international body or national leader opining about the British vote on whether to leave the EU. Voters may well be bewildered by the blizzard of facts, claims and counter-claims, or the discussion of whether Britain's future trade with the EU will be based on the Norwegian, Swiss or Albanian model. Like The Economist itself, your blogger favours the Remain camp. But here are five semi-serious reasons that our leader column might not mention.
1. Are you sick of the whole thing? The campaign has been going on for three months and there is still a month left. Well, if Leave wins you can expect another couple of years of the TV news and front pages being full of little else but the details of trade negotiations, late-night summits with Angela Merkel and debates over which companies might pull out of Britain. Vote Remain so Britons can go back to focusing on the weather and the inevitable failure of its football teams (England, Wales and Northern Ireland this time) in the Euros.
2. If you got bored with this referendum, remember the Scottish vote which seemed to take forever? Nicola Sturgeon will surely demand another poll if Scots vote Remain and the rest vote Leave. Vote Remain and we don't have to listen to the angry rhetoric about whose oil it is all over again.
3. Speaking of Scotland, remember that argument of Brexit campaigners about "controlling our borders"? The UK has a land border with the EU in Ireland and might have one with Scotland if it gets independence. That means EU citizens will have the right to move freely to Ireland and Scotland. So if we want to "control our borders" we will need checkpoints on our roads, including the A1 from Edinburgh to London, and passport checks at Edinburgh Waverley on the 16.30 to King's Cross. So vote Remain to avoid 20-mile tailbacks at Berwick and Carlisle. (And if you think that wouldn't be allowed to happen, then don't believe the "control of our borders" story.)
4. About to go on holiday? The pound will almost certainly fall in the event of Brexit; in a Bloomberg poll of economists, the most popular bet was a decline against the dollar to $1.25-$1.30, compared with around $1.45 today. So if you don't want your trip to Disneyworld (or Eurodisney) to get a lot more expensive, vote Remain.
5. If the Leave campaign wins, David Cameron will be forced out as prime minister. That might leave us with the choice of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn at the next election. Enough said.
