UK’s Cameron to take EU case to Parliament for referendum

“(The decision from Johnson) signaled a heightened level of uncertainty”, currency analysts at the Dutch financial firm Rabobank said in a research note.

David Cameron is preparing to present MPs with his case for Britain remaining in the European Union – hours after Boris Johnson declared he would be supporting the Out campaign. The agreement is aimed at helping him to argue that Britain is better off in the bloc going into an in-out referendum he’s called for June 23.

Cameron earlier in the day used a TV appearance to try to persuade Johnson to join the “stay” campaign.

“Cameron is a major asset for the Remain camp”, said Matthew Goodwin, politics professor at the University of Kent.

The London mayor – who announced on Sunday he was backing the “out” campaign – said voters were becoming increasingly disillusioned at the inability of their elected politicians to take decisions in the face of control from Brussels.

The sterling fell 1.7 percent to $1.4166, and also sagged against the euro, as bookmakers shortened the odds on a vote to leave – though betting markets still favor a “remain” victory.

UBS Wealth Management said Monday it put the probability of a British EU exit – known as “Brexit” – at 30 percent.

Simon Smith, chief economist at FxPro, said the next four months “won’t be a fun time” for the pound, which has weakened in recent months.

Cameron argues that being part of the club is good for the British economy.

Boris Johnson has claimed that fears over the economic impact of a British exit from the European Union have been “wildly exaggerated” as he hit out at “scaremongering” by supporters of a vote to retain ties with Brussels.

In a 2,000-word opinion piece in The Telegraph on Sunday, Johnson said leaving was a “once-in-a-lifetime chance to vote for real change”.

It came as a bitter blow for Mr Cameron, however, who had long believed that his old rival from their days at Eton and Oxford would ultimately fall in behind his reform package. ‘One of them said to me, ‘ he began, but was interrupted by shouts of ‘WHO ARE YOU?’ The Commons descended into hysteria. He’s one of the favorites to succeed Cameron, who’s said he’ll step down as prime minister before the 2020 general election.

He will campaign for the U.K.to stay in the EU.

“It is through the European Union that you exchange criminal records and passenger records and work together on counter-terrorism”, Fallon told the BBC Monday.

“There’s lots of things; the UK is a member of the Security Council at the United Nations, it’s a significant trading partner, it’s got particular foreign policy strengths, so Britain is an important part [of the EU]”, Dr Lightfoot told Sputnik.

In his speech Monday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn expressed support for Cameron’s campaign for a vote for Britain to remain in the EU.

His support will give the campaign to leave the European Union a charismatic figurehead – and will pit two of Britain’s most powerful, influential politicians against each other as they attempt to convince Britons of the merits of their positions ahead of an “in or out” referendum on June 23.

Information for this article was contributed by Sylvia Hui of The Associated Press and by Svenja O’Donnell and David Goodman of Bloomberg News.