Daily Mail stablemate attacks ‘single-minded leaders’ of leave, Observer calls for Britain to stay in, and Sunday editions of Times and Telegraph support Brexit

The Mail On Sunday has come out in favour of the remain case in the EU referendum campaign, warning it is “not the time to risk the peace and prosperity” of the UK.

In a two-page editorial, the paper said that “by any calculation” Britain would be bound to face higher tariffs, turmoil in the financial markets and a period of uncertainty if there was a vote to leave on 23 June.

It accused Brexit campaigners of peddling a “dangerous illusion”.

“The human head knows that, especially in the world we now inhabit, our deepest desires must somehow be moderated to suit the increasingly tough reality of a competitive world in which, though still a great nation, we no longer have the power or the wealth which once allowed us to live in splendid isolation,” it said.

It attacked the “single-minded leaders” of the leave campaign. “So eager are they for a divorce that they are prepared to sacrifice a large chunk of our income, and trade down on living conditions, in order to walk out into a rose-tinted future of ‘freedom’. Though it is interesting that they have been careful to make no such a declaration.”

The Observer also published an editorial in favour of remaining in the EU.

The newspaper said voters should not turn their backs on the European project in an article headlined: “For an international, liberal and open Britain, we need to be part of the EU.”

Observer’s editorial calling for Britain to vote remain. Photograph: Observer

Affirming that the paper has “always been proud of its internationalist, liberal worldview”, it said: “Despite its many flaws, this paper believes the EU has, without question, been a force for good.

“Remaining in the EU will not magically eliminate the challenges Britain faces in the years to come. But if we choose to do so, it will keep Britain at the heart of reforming the European project so that the nations of Europe are together better equipped to face them.”

The Sunday Times came out in favour of a vote to leave – a day after its weekday sibling backed the remain case. In an editorial, the paper called for a “looser, more flexibile” association with the EU. It said that while better diplomacy might have rendered the referendum unnecessary, now that the question was being put to the electorate, voting to leave was the best way to stop increasing political and economic union.



Criticising the EU’s economic recovery since the recession, and its impact on British sovereignty and security, the paper said: “In the event of Brexit, Brussels may pursue a ‘global security strategy’, perhaps including an EU army without a UK veto.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sunday Times editorial calling for Britain to leave the EU. Photograph: Sunday Times

“We must keep out. It is Nato that guarantees our security.”

The Sunday Telegraph came out in favour of Brexit in its editorial. “On balance … we believe the leave campaign has articulated an ambitious vision for Britain as an independent nation, once again free to make its own decisions. Remain, by contrast, has resorted to grim pessimism.”

The newspaper accused the chancellor, George Osborne, of making “unconscionable threats” over pensions and “dire predictions” on trade agreements that, with other issues, amount to an “unremitting tide of gloom”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sunday Telegraph’s pro-Brexit editorial. Photograph: Sunday Telegraph

Declaring that the EU “belongs to the past”, it said: “Leaving the EU does not mean leaving Europe. A vote for Brexit on Thursday will not change our geography.”

With the Press Association