Peace in Europe could be at risk if Britain votes to leave the European Union, David Cameron has warned.
The United Kingdom has regretted “turning its back” on Europe in the past, the prime minister said, arguing the EU had “helped reconcile” countries and maintain peace.
Was leaving the union a “risk worth taking,” Mr. Cameron asked.
But ex-London mayor Boris Johnson hit back, saying the EU’s “anti-democratic tendencies” was “a force for instability and alienation.”
The Vote Leave campaign said: “During the renegotiation the PM said he ‘ruled nothing out’. Now he thinks leaving the EU would lead to war. What changed?”
Despite his security warning, Mr. Cameron defended his decision to call the referendum, telling the BBC: “You shouldn’t try to hold an independent sovereign nation in an organisation against its will.”
There are just over six weeks to go until the 23 June referendum which will decide whether Britain remains in or leaves the EU.
The PM’s comments – and a rival speech from Mr. Johnson – came as the referendum campaign intensifies, following last week’s elections.
Mr. Cameron, who was introduced by former Labour foreign secretary, David Miliband, argued the EU – with Britain in it – had helped bring together countries that had been “at each others’ throats for decades.”
He warned the peace and stability Europe has enjoyed in recent years could not be guaranteed, saying leaving risked “the clock being turned back to an age of competing nationalism in Europe.”
