It's the Economy, Stupid (11/06/16)

Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, is the latest high profile name to switch his allegiance to Remain in the great EU referendum.

Mahmoud's says the reason for his decision is the Vote Leave campaign's obsessive focus on immigration.

"The issue for me is the economy, but the debate has been hijacked by people to do with immigration and racism.

"When Boris Johnson talks about where Obama's father comes from, what's that got to do with anyone? Why do we need to talk about who his parents are? That disappointed a lot of people.

"Then there was the advert about passports and the campaign saying Turkey could join the EU - that 76 million people are coming to the UK and there have been a number of other things they used in a fairly racist context. I find that fairly offensive. My motivation originally was looking at the economy and the Commonwealth."

Now I agree with that I have to say and I've written previously on the blog site about the nasty 'dog whistle' tactics employed by the likes of Boris Johnson who foolishly attacked Barack Obama when the American President visited the UK recently.

So while immigration is a thorny issue, especially in some parts of the country, the real issue in the great EU referendum is the economy, stupid.

And that's what I think it will come down to on polling day because I don't believe that voters really want to give the likes of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage real and lasting influence over the way in which the UK economy is run.