EU Referendum: David Cameron pledges to campaign in Scotland

THE Prime Minister has pledged to campaign in Scotland on the EU referendum, despite avoiding electioneering in the run-up to the Holyrood election that saw his party scoop second place.

David Cameron declared: “I will definitely come to Scotland to campaign in the EU referendum.

“I think it’s very important people hear from a range of voices. I want people in Scotland to hear from the SNP, the trades unions, the Greens, the Liberals, the Labour party, but I also want them to hear from the Prime Minister too.”

And he sounded yet another warning about the risks of Britain voting to leave the European Union.

He claimed investments in projects like building a new Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh and extending the M8 wouldn’t happen if Britain left the EU and walked away from its European Investment Bank (EIB) arm that’s sunk nearly a billion pounds into Scottish projects in recent years.

He said: “Vital projects across every region of the UK have been financed by the EIB. These make a huge difference locally, nationally and sometimes globally. Not only would leaving the EU see us wave goodbye to this crucial funding – but with a smaller economy hit by new trading barriers and job losses it’s unlikely we’d be able to find that money from alternative sources.”

With the May 5 elections across the UK out of the way the political focus is now solely on the European Union referendum for the next six weeks.

The Prime Minister had some surprising praise for his predecessor as he set out what the Remain camp’s strategy.

He said: “You’ve seen in recent days a very powerful speech by Gordon Brown, the launch of Labour In by Jeremy Corbyn, you’ve seen trade union after trade union favour Remain.

“When you look at those in favour of Brexit it is a few Tories and a bit of Ukip and not much else.

“Whereas our campaign has got the Conservative government behind it, the Conservative Prime Minister, the Labour party, the Liberals, Greens, trade unions, charities, big businesses, small
businesses and I think we need to demonstrate that.”

Cameron was conspicuous by his absence during the Holyrood election campaign with Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson forced to deny she’d ordered him to stay away.

The PM explained: “I launched the campaign which set out my strong support for Ruth and her plans then we had elections all over the country including the European Union referendum on which I’ve had to spend quite a long time.”

Holyrood still contains a majority of MSPs in favour of independence. But the PM, who retains the power to veto any independence referendum, said: “I don’t think the people want a second referendum, I don’t think it’s remotely in prospect and I think actually the SNP and others would be making a mistake if they thought it’s good for Scotland to permanently dangle the prospect of another referendum. It creates uncertainty, it’s bad for the economy, it’s bad for jobs, it’s bad for stability.”

Nicola Sturgeon confident that Scotland will vote to remain in the European Union