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With just days to go until the EU Referendum, Alistair Jones, principal lecturer in the Department of Politics and Public Policy, wonders why the opportunity for real debate has been lost

flags britain and EU

The referendum on EU membership was supposed to be a liberating, energising campaign where the British people would make a fully-informed choice about Britain’s future relationship with the EU.

What a brilliant aspiration. Sadly, it has not been achieved.

We started off with Project Fear – from both sides – despite claims of fighting a positive campaign. And that, in many respects, was the high point.

The Scottish independence referendum was little different. That degenerated into abuse, trolling on social media and a nastily-edged campaign, particularly from those in favour of independence. The current referendum is little different.

We have seen scaremongering of the highest order from the Remain campaign: how bad things will be if we left. We are talking about the worst case scenario. Taxes will go up and there will be much deeper spending cuts.

The Brexit campaign has been just as bad. The scare stories of immigrants coming to the UK, and the horrors they would deliver to British society, is plain nasty.
Worse has been the hype over potential Turkish immigration. Noting Turkey is not a member of the EU, and is nowhere near joining, this can be seen as scaremongering. Any member state can veto Turkey’s application at any time. Those who have presented such arguments are then attacked. Facts merely get in the way.

And then we come to the death of Jo Cox. The question to ask here is about the extent to which her death is linked to campaigning over immigration? Until the trial takes places, we cannot know. We can merely speculate. That is not for me to do.

What is of concern is the way this was an attack on British political life. We pride ourselves on having an open democracy. Within the bounds of law, people can campaign – be it for election or to lobby politicians. This attack undermines that freedom.

Is it safe for people to campaign over divisive issues? How will their opponents react? What fallout will there be on the families of such campaigners? Will people be willing to work or campaign for those in plight, with a worry for their own personal safety?

More broadly, this referendum campaign has taken Britain backwards. Our open, tolerant society appearing to be disappearing quickly in a torrent of anti-immigration rhetoric, and worse. So many of the steps taken to develop the levels of tolerance in our society are being attacked if not destroyed.

Will this be reversed after the referendum campaign? I hope so, but I am not confident in that hope.