Newly elected London mayor Sadiq Khan has urged Labour voters against taking a ‘leap into the dark’ by voting for Brexit - and not to blame the EU for being let down by successive governments.
On a campaign tour in Manchester and Oldham he admitted many working class people feel they have been failed by politics.
But he said the answer was not to leave the EU.
“I grew up on a council estate and many of my friends are the people we are talking about,” he said.
“Politicians have got to be able to be more comfortable about speaking to, listening to white working class people.”
Listing housing, jobs, wages and skills as all areas in which people feel they are ‘not getting the help they need’, he added: “Rather than playing on people’s fears we need to address them, build genuinely affordable homes to buy or rent, be on their side.
“That’s one of the frustrations about this campaign. If you are not careful the frustrations the people have, talking about governments letting them down, will be displaced with a vote to leave the EU.
“We need to address these concerns but it’s easier to do so by remaining in the EU.”
He also said both Leave and Remain need to ‘calm down’ and stop flinging around scare stories and over-the-top statistics.
Research suggests many Labour voters do not even know the party is backing Remain, but he said it was unified in its opposition to Brexit - adding that he wanted to leave supporters in ‘no doubt’.
Manchester, like London, is a young city that has benefited hugely from the EU, he said.
“Let’s be frank. Manchester is the second city now,” he said.
“One of the reason it’s buzzing is all the regeneration, some of which came from the EU. We have to recognise that the EU is beneficial to the north west. Why take a leap in the dark?”
He said people must be under no illusions that if Britain left the EU, jobs here would go.
“I’m a politician,” he said. “I don’t create jobs but what I can do is create the environment where businesses create jobs. The one thing they agree on is the EU has been beneficial to the country and leaving it would not be beneficial to the country. Why would you ignore that expert advice?”
