If the opinion polls are to be believed, the British electorate may vote by a small majority to leave the European Union (EU) in the country’s June 23 referendum.
The latest UK polls suggest that 45 per cent of those voting will choose to go, while 42 per cent will say they want to remain. At present 13 per cent say they don’t know. The concern is that if young people, who are predisposed to vote to remain, cannot be mobilised, and the leadership of the Labour Party does not do more to encourage its members to vote in the same way, the United Kingdom will be plunged into a period of economic and political turmoil with unpredictable consequences beyond it shores.
While the pollsters may be wrong, and there is still the possibility of change in voter sentiment, the markets believe that the vote may be to leave and have begun to price-in the cost of uncertainty and the possible instability that will follow.
