Leave campaigner Boris Johnson has a lot riding on EU vote

Britons were set to shape the future of the United Kingdom and Europe on Thursday as they headed to polls to decide on a bitterly fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation’s membership in the European Union and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc’s 60-year history.

Among them will be former Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King, who backs remaining in the European Union, and founder and chairman of Wetherspoons Tim Martin, who supports Brexit. It had a margin of error of three percentage points.

Barr added that “subjectively”, he saw a roughly 45 percent chance Britain would leave the European Union compared to the 25 percent chance priced into betting markets.

“We have concluded the deal with the Prime Minister; he got the maximum he could receive, and we gave the maximum we could give so there will be no kind of renegotiation”, he said. The “remain” campaign led by Prime Minister David Cameron argues that Britain is safer and richer inside the 28-nation EU.

“Markets seem to have nearly entirely priced in a “Remain” vote win, meaning that the market moves and volatility around the vote may be far less than many had expected”, Angus Nicholson, a Melbourne-based market analyst at IG, said in a commentary.

He reminded the citizens to be aware of the consequences of their vote.

The bookies also clearly saw momentum to “remain”. The price of Brent crude increased almost 2 per cent Thursday morning to just under $51 (US) a barrel and the pound is up nearly two per cent. That’s a reference to England’s third goal in its 1966 World Cup final victory, which Germans maintain didn’t cross the goal line.

He told BBC Breakfast: “Immigration is a challenge and I think the debate last night showed that the leave campaign admitted they wouldn’t solve the immigration challenge by leaving the European Union, but there would be a massive challenge for our economy – we would have fewer jobs, we would have less revenue, less ability to build the schools and hospitals that we need”.

Asked if he had any regrets about the decision, which has led to a bitter divide with David Cameron and other leading Tories in the Remain camp, Mr Johnson said: “Not at all”.

The four-month campaign comes to a close on Wednesday, with campaigners making a last-minute appeal to undecided voters, emphasising their main arguments and encouraging their supporters to turn out to vote. London’s Fire Brigade took 550 weather-related calls as the capital was hit by heavy rain, thunderstorms and lightning strikes.

Downpours and flooding swamped parts of London and southeastern Britain. A large turnout will favour the “remain” campaign as those who waver at the end tend to go for the status quo.

The race is widely seen as being too close to call, though bookmakers have stood solidly for “remain” – a fact opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn noted as he cheerfully cast his ballot at a school in his London constituency.

What will happen to the pound on either a Leave or a Remain vote is uncertain, although analysis from banks suggests that the pound could drop as much as 15% in the event of a Brexit, and rally between 5-10% in the event of a Leave vote. He didn’t quit on Europe, he didn’t quit on European democracy, he didn’t quit on European freedom.