DAVID Cameron has hailed the “extraordinary coalition” of forces to keep Britain in the European Union as he launched a pro-EU guarantee card and shared a platform with Labour’s London mayor Sadiq Khan.

It was only a few weeks ago that the Prime Minister was accused of using racist slurs against Mr Khan in the bitter Labour-Conservative campaign for the mayoralty but Mr Cameron told Stronger In Europe campaigners at a rally in south-west London that he was “proud” to share a platform with the Labour politician.

In a passionate speech to embolden the In camp’s troops in the run-in to the June 23 vote, the Tory leader dismissed the Leave camp’s claim that the pro-EU forces were some kind of “exquisite conspiracy” by the Establishment but insisted the bringing together of different political parties, businesses and trades unions backed up by the views of international organisations showed the strength of the Remain camp’s argument that a vote to stay would make Britain safer, stronger and better off.

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While Mr Cameron talked up what he saw as the economic and security benefits of staying in the EU, his strongest emphasis was on the collection of individuals and groups, who were now campaigning to keep Britain in the 28-member Brussels bloc.

Acknowledging how the claims and counter-claims in the campaign were confusing people, he said: “I would say as your prime minister for the last six years, I’m in no doubt; in spite of misgivings and concerns about parts of the EU, I’m in no doubt, we’re stronger, safer, better off if we remain inside.”

The Herald:

He referred to how nine out of 10 economists had said a vote to leave would send a severe shock to the British economy, that the Governor of the Bank of England had warned such a vote would cause a potential recession and that the four previous and serving prime ministers, Labour and Tory, all agreed that breaking away from the Brussels bloc would be “dangerous, wrong and bad for Britain”.

“You’ve got all these political parties, Greens, Liberal Democrats, Conservative, Labour, trade unions, businesses, you have the Labour mayor of London, you’ve got the Conservative prime minister, standing together because we say this matters so much for our country. We say it not because it’s part of some massive Establishment conspiracy, it would be a pretty exquisite conspiracy...but we say it for this reason: we love our country.

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“We want our country to be the best it possibly can be, to be the strongest, the greatest, for our people to be safe, for our economy to be strong, for families’ finances to be secure, to go on creating jobs. “

Noting how the campaign to keep the UK in the EU had “brought together this extraordinary coalition,” Mr Cameron declared: “This is not, in the end, an argument about Europe, it’s an argument about Britain. We believe this is the right thing for Britain; a bigger, bolder, better Britain remaining inside the EU with these guarantees.”

The PM also attacked the Out camp over what he said was their inability to say what a decision to leave the EU would mean.

The Herald:

“They were asked last week if you would need a visa to travel if we left the EU and they replied with just four words: ‘We just don’t know.’ You ask them whether there would be a recession, we just don’t know. You ask them how bad the effect would be on unemployment, we just don’t know. Well, I’ll tell you this, ‘we just don’t know’ is not good enough for the British people.”

Mr Khan stressed how the economic case for staying in the EU was “crystal clear” with compelling evidence put forward by the Treasury, the Bank of England, the IMF and many other organisations.

He admitted that there were many things on which he and Mr Cameron disagreed but insisted that when it was in London’s interests to work closely together, they would do just that.

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Underlining how there was a “positive and patriotic” case to remain in the EU, the mayor pointed out that there were more than 500,000 jobs in the UK capital directly dependent on the EU, many leading global companies had their European headquarters in London and almost half of the UK exports go to the EU.

“A vote for remain means jobs and opportunities. If you vote remain, it means helping fight diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s. If you vote remain, it means improving the air quality in London and fighting climate change. If you vote remain, it means workers’ rights protected and more rights for women...And voting remain means a stronger UK defence.”

He added that a vote to stay in the EU was about Britain’s values and character and its future vision, stressing how Britain was never isolationist but had always been outward-looking.

It was in the run-up to the London mayoral election that Mr Cameron criticised Mr Khan for sharing a political platform with people, whom the PM claimed were supporters of so-called Islamic State.

However, the Conservative leader had to apologise to Suliman Gani, a former imam, whom he accused of supporting IS. Downing Street later said the PM had been referring to reports that Mr Gani had supported "an Islamic state" rather than IS specifically. Mr Gani made clear he opposed IS “wholeheartedly” and had never supported the terrorist group either privately or publicly.

The Stronger In’s “guarantee card”, similar in style to the pledge card launched by New Labour in the 1990s and which will be handed out to volunteers across the country, will have five promises should voters back Remain:

*full access to the EU’s single market - supporting three million jobs, lower prices for families and a strong economy to fund the NHS;

*workers’ rights will be protected - with paid leave, parental rights, holidays and anti-discrimination laws;

*retaining the European Arrest Warrant – helping to fight crime and terrorism and bringing criminals to justice;

*a special status in Europe – which means never joining the euro while keeping control of the UK’s borders and introducing new rules so EU nationals only have access to welfare once they have paid in and

*stability for Britain - protecting living standards and avoiding potential recession.

The Stronger In rally and guarantee card launch followed Vote Leave’s bid to undermine it by highlighting what it regarded as the five guarantees of a Remain vote.

These were: the UK would continue to send £350 million to Brussels every week; the free movement of people would continue “permanently” and would get worse when Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey joined the EU; EU regulation would continue to cost British companies over £600m each week; criminals and terrorists would not be able to be removed from the UK and £43bn would have to be paid in tax refunds to multinational businesses.

‘If people vote to stay, they are voting for the free movement of people from Europe to the UK, permanently,” declared Matthew Elliott, Vote Leave’s chief executive.”

He added: “If we Vote Leave on June 23, we take back control of our money, our borders and our democracy. That’s the safer option for our future.”