That’s according to Dimitris Papadimitriou, a professor of politics at The University of Manchester.
He said: “Whatever the result on Friday, one thing is clear: the British people are today no better informed on the EU that they were a year ago. The divisions over Europe among the British political elites and the public at large will not heal on Friday; they will be further entrenched.
“If Remain wins, it won’t do so because people’s perceptions on the EU have changed towards a more constructive attitude to our European partners. This was very much a ‘project fear’ that will perpetuate public distrust toward the EU.
“If Leave wins, Britain is heading towards an economic disaster and a political crisis. Divorce proceedings may start on Friday, but the UK’s decoupling from the EU is likely to spill into the next Parliament.”
As for the result, Professor Diane Coyle, Professor of Economics at The University says “Obviously there’s uncertainty about what would happen if there were to be a Leave vote, but the risks to the economy are obvious and large.
“Many have spoken out about the likely economic damage including 12 Nobel Prize winners, all the important institutions from the International Monetary Fund to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and hundreds of individual economists in universities, finance and business.
“All but a handful of economists expect there would quickly be a drop in the pound, higher prices for food and other imports, and more expensive holidays. Beyond that there is a chance of a recession with job losses and lower investment. Share prices would fall, which is bad for pensioners. The uncertainty about what access British business would have to the rest of the EU would last for a long period and could seriously damage the economy.
“The benefits ‘Leave’ campaigners claim for the economy border on the delusional; they make assumptions our trading partners like the US have already stated are untrue. And there are further untruths such as the entirely false claim about how much the UK pays into the EU.”
