Stronger In bores on economics rather than fights on principles

4 June 2016.

My reply to Stronger In’s latest fundraising email based on comments by Michael Gove ( the Leave Campaign “can’t guarantee every person currently in work in their current job will keep their job.”). I could have written the same reply also to nearly any of the emails from Will Straw and others.

Re. latest fundraising email.

Dear Lucy,

The more Stronger In send me tedious repetitive emails about economics – speculation about economics at that, like Leave but more credible – the more I despair and am less likely to make any small donation I can afford to a one trick pony campaign that is scaremongering rather than idealistic (though nothing like as badly or outrageously as Leave).

As I just said in comment to a former (Labour) MEP friend.

“How do you think the Referendum campaign is going? I’m worried of course. I think – still after eight months – that IN have failed to sufficiently learn lessons from the Scottish referendum. I’m absolutely fed up with and angry at the almost constant negative campaigning and nearly all focus on the economy instead of anything about principles. Still Leave’s near constant lies are shocking. I think Labour have done well in the last couple of weeks.”

I should have added that the IN campaign’s lack of talking about principles is compounded by its failure to talk about reform. It may be standard campaigning that it has to be good v bad, right v wrong, but the failure to recognise flaws of the EU and to talk about the need for more reform than David Cameron has secured so far, hardly makes it look as if those of us who passionately want to stay in also want to make the EU work better. Some concerns of antis are genuine and realistic and yet we are doing nothing to engage with them. We may not win any of those people over but we’re not even trying.

Yours sincerely,

Kiron Reid

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