What is it?
The campaign to keep Britain in the EU, launched today with a speech by former Marks and Spencer Executive Chairman Stuart Rose. Ahead of the EU referendum (coming some time before the end of 2017) the campaign will attempt to convince British voters to choose the "remain" option on their ballot paper, which will ask whether Britain should remain a member of the EU or leave the Eu.
Who's involved?
In common with the "Vote Leave" campaign, which will push for Brexit, Britain Stronger in Europe is making much of its business connections. Rose, who is leading the campaign, will be joined by Mike Rake, former President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), who will serve as Treasurer, the BBC reports. Karren Brady, a businesswoman and star of
The Apprentice, and Lord Sainsbury, Labour's biggest donor, are also involved. But plenty of politicians have weighed in too. Britain's three living former Prime Ministers Tony Blair, John Major and Gordon Brown reportedly back the campaign. The Labour grandee Peter Mandelson and MP Chuka Umunna are both involved, along with the Tory MP Damien Green, former Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, among others. Will Straw, the former Labour candidate and son of Jack Straw, is the campaign's Executive Director.
What's the message?
"Whether on the pitch or in the boardroom, people are stronger when they work together," Brady intones in
a glossy video launched by the campaign today. The YouTube ad emphasises the collaborative benefits of EU membership, and although it touches on crime and cheap mobile roaming charges (expect to hear more about roaming charges in the coming months than you have ever heard before) it has a distinct focus on the positives for business. The overall tone: why risk our prosperity and comfort with a leap into the unknown? Negative messages which scare voters about the dangers of leaving might ultimately prove important too. On that front, the campaign has already started seeking to associate Nigel Farage with Brexit in its Facebook adverts. Many on both sides think Farage is toxic and will put off swing voters, with one senior pro-EU campaigner telling me recently: "I want him everywhere."
Will it succeed?
It's obviously much too early to predict the outcome of the final referendum, but there are some early indicators which could prove important. Public polling, which in recent years has shown a majority in favour of staying in Europe, is now showing no clear lead either way, with some polls showing a majority in favour of leaving. The comforting factor here for the campaign is that, when asked, many eurosceptic voters say that if David Cameron presented them with a re-negotiated membership deal and said it was in Britain's interests, they would vote for it. It's therefore in the campaign's interests to talk up the Prime Minister's negotiation, and they will need to defend him from the attacks of Out campaigners. The Out campaign will also seek to present a vote for "In" as a vote for "ever closer union," so the In campaign will need to persuade nervous or uncommitted voters that a vote to Remain is a vote for the status quo. But, in truth, the success of either campaign is largely out of any UK politician's hands. Another debacle like the Greece crisis could boost the Out campaign, without Britain Stronger in Europe being able to do anything about it.
