Irish have role in Brexit debate, says campaigner

Irish political leaders have been told that they "can make a difference" in the UK's debate on European Union membership ahead of June's referendum.

Speaking at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin yesterday, prominent British pro-European campaigner Charles Grant said Irish leaders should make their views known as "they are respected as very close partners, allies of the British".

“Irish political leaders can make a difference,” Mr Grant said.

"If they say, 'We would like you to stay in because of common economic interests and common security interests', I think floating voters in England will listen."

Message

Mr Grant also said that if Irish leaders sent out a message that in the event of a

Brexit

,

Ireland

would seek to attract business from the

City of London

, it could assist the campaign to remain in the EU.

However, he warned such a message would have to be communicated “in the right tone”.

“If Irish people were to say, ‘We’d really like you to stay . . . and we’ll pick up some of your business if you left – said in the right tone, that could be helpful.”

Mr Grant, head of the London-based think tank the Centre for European Reform, describes his position as “pro-European, but not uncritical”.

British sources say his views and advice are influential in 10 Downing Street.

Populist arguments

He said he was “not optimistic” about the outcome of the campaign. Referring to the populist, nationalist arguments of the Brexit campaigners, he said: “The devil has all the best tunes.”

A British decision to leave would be bad for the UK, bad for the City of London, bad for Ireland and bad for the EU, according to Mr Grant.

"Marine Le Pen said that if the British leave, it will be like the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think she's right," he said.

“I’m quite gloomy,” he said. “But it’s not all over yet. Historians say that in referendums many people tend to switch to the status quo at the last minute.

“We may need that to win.”