Guardian rallies Remain voters against ‘xenophobic press’ as crucial EU vote beckons
The Guardian has become the latest newspaper to declare its hand in Thursday’s historic referendum to decide Britain’s future in the EU, by nailing its colours firmly to the mast of those who wish us to remain a member of the continental club.
Setting out its stance on today’s front page the paper exhorts its readers to engage both "head and heart" when deciding how to place their vote against what it describes as "the most unrelenting, unbalanced and sometimes xenophobic press assault in history".
Vote for a united country that reaches out to the world. Vote to remain. Tomorrow's Guardian front page in print pic.twitter.com/dvuzUH9Krd
— Katharine Viner (@KathViner) June 20, 2016
Focus of the Guardian’s ire has been the suggestion by some on the Leave side that Turkey may be admitted to the European Union at some point, stoking fears of a fresh wave of migration to the UK, an outcome which the Guardian insists is ‘not on the cards’.
It also warns that Britain is not ‘fantasy island’ and that the promise of workers’ rights, pensioner guarantees and free trade deals by those advocating change do not stack up. Instead the editorial again raises fears of its own such as Scottish independence and an unraveling of the Northern Ireland peace process should Brexit occur.
The Guardian concluded: “Like democracy, whose virtues are in our minds afresh after the violent death of the committed and principled MP Jo Cox, the EU is not just the least bad of the available options. It is also the one that embodies the best of us as a free people in a peaceful Europe. Vote this week. Vote for a united country that reaches out to the world, and vote against a divided nation that turns inwards. Vote to remain.”