British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Saturday that the United Kingdom will hold a referendum on June 23 to decide whether the country will stay in the European Union or leave.
Cameron is urging British voters to decide to stay in, and he has just extracted concessions from other EU nations to make membership more palatable. Germany, France and other countries agreed that Britain, which has a strong economy, should be allowed to limit benefit payments to migrants for as much as seven years. Other EU states do not have this power.
“The choice goes to the heart of the kind of country that we want to be and the kind of future we want for our children,” Cameron said in a speech outside his official residence, Number 10 Downing Street.
The annoucement came during the first meeting of a British cabinet on a Saturday since 1982, when Margaret Thatcher convened ministers during the Falklands War.
The vote on EU membership comes after generations during which many Britons have reacted with fury over regulations handed down from Euro-HQ in Brussels, and also after several years of increasing disquiet over immigration.
One of the most vociferous voices against the EU is Nigel Farage, leader of UK Independence Party. He is a boisterous financier and right-leaning populist, with a base of working-class support, and has been compared to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
It is uncertain if Jeremy Corbyn, the socialist leader of the Labour Party, will campaign to stay in the Union. Corbyn has been compared to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. He has said he supports a referendum on EU membership, but has expressed doubts about EU powers over workers’ rights.
