Murdoch’s Sun backing boosts Brexit campaign

An arrangement of newspapers pictured in London on Tuesday shows the front page of the Sun, a daily newspaper, with a headline urging readers to vote “Leave” in the June 23 EU referendum. (Photo: AFP)

An endorsement from the top-selling Sun tabloid boosted the campaign for Britain to leave the EU in next week’s referendum Tuesday as the increasing prospect of a Brexit weighed on global investor confidence.

With the June 23 vote approaching, four out of the last five published opinion polls have put the “Leave” camp ahead.

Fears of the potential economic fall-out from Britain becoming the first country to leave the 28-member bloc have spooked investors, sending global stocks sliding and boosting demand for German government bonds, a safe haven.

The decision by Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid to endorse a Brexit is a further boost for the “Leave” campaign, although it is not a surprise, given the paper’s eurosceptic coverage in recent months.

In a front page editorial, the paper urged its 4.5 million readers to “BeLEAVE in Britain”, saying: “We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels.”

The endorsement, the first such declaration by a major national newspaper, increases the pressure on Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s “Remain” side, which several reports Tuesday said was now in “panic” mode.

The “Remain” camp also published a letter from 60 health experts — former heads of various colleges representing medical staff specialities — warning of the risks that a Brexit presented to the state-run National Health Service.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, his most senior legislators and a dozen trade union leaders also warned that 525,000 public sector jobs could be lost if a “leave” vote sparks a recession, as some experts predict.

Late Tuesday, two of the biggest names on both sides of the debate will go head-to-head in a debate hosted by the Huffington Post, YouTube and the Daily Telegraph. Former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond, who is backing “Remain”, will debate with lead Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, the former Conservative mayor of London tipped as a future Prime Minister.

A YouGov poll for The Times on Tuesday gave the “Leave” camp 46 per cent, compared to 39 per cent for “Remain” — the fourth survey since Friday to put them ahead. However, a new ORB poll for the Daily Telegraph, also published on Tuesday, put “Remain” on 49 per cent, compared to 44 per cent for “Leave”.

A compilation of the six latest polls by the WhatUKThinks research project puts the Brexit camp ahead by 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

Bookmakers Ladbrokes and William Hill are still expecting Britain to stay in the EU, but have slashed their odds from a probability of 85 per cent three weeks ago to about 60 per cent. A string of financial institutions, including the IMF, have warned of the economic turmoil that could follow a Brexit.