A flotilla of pro-Brexit fishing boats sailed up the River Thames on Wednesday ahead of next week’s referendum over EU membership, as the government warned of tax hikes and spending cuts if Britain voted to leave.
U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage joined the procession of around 30 trawlers that steamed past Parliament to protest against EU fishing quotas while Prime Minister David Cameron was facing MPs in his final debate before the June 23 vote.
Clash on River Thames “The battle line of this referendum is ordinary folk and their communities up against the big establishment,” Mr. Farage told AFP on board one of the boats which was decorated with Union Jack deckchairs and balloons.
Events took a bizarre turn when rocker and Live Aid mastermind Bob Geldof, a ‘Remain’ supporter, pulled up in a rival boat, shouting “Nigel you’re a fraud” through a loudspeaker, only to be hosed with water from a ‘Leave’ boat.
“The Only Way is Brexit” and “Leave, Save Our Country” read some of the signs on the pro-Brexit boats, while a flag on Westminster Bridge read: “Don’t Let Farage Sink Britain, Vote Remain”.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister George Osborne, who is campaigning for Britain to remain in the 28-member bloc, said that schools, hospitals and the army would all have their funding slashed if Britons vote to leave.
In the government’s starkest warning yet of the economic implications of a Brexit, Mr. Osborne said leaving the bloc would blast a £30-billion ($42.4-billion ) hole in national finances.
In response, the basic rate of income tax would be raised, inheritance tax would be hiked, and the budget for services including the National Health Service (NHS) would be cut, he said.
“Quitting the EU would hit investment, hurt families and harm the British economy,” he said.
“I would have a responsibility to try to restore stability to the public finances and that would mean an emergency budget where we would have to increase taxes and cut spending.”
Mr. Osborne’s warning came as opinion polls indicate a surge of support for the Brexit camp, putting pressure on global markets.
Fifty-seven Tory MPs said Mr. Osborne’s warning was the result of a “reckless teenage temper tantrum”. Many of them also vowed to vote against the “blackmail budget”.
