Cameron could suffer a 'hangover' even if he wins EU referendum

THE Brexit debate moves up a gear this month with the Westminster Parliament proceeding with the final legislation needed to hold the EU (European Union) referendum on June 23. With polls continuing to show a tightening race between the "in" and "out" sides, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has issued his strongest warnings yet on the dangers of the UK leaving Europe, asserting it would be the "gamble of the century".

Since Mr Cameron called the "in-out" referendum last month, many tactics of the "in campaign" have recalled the so-called "Project Fear" during the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. While ultimately successful in winning that vote, the pro-union campaign left a major hangover that continues to this day.

That is, a resurgent Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) whose fortunes have been transformed after it ran a pro-independence campaign mixing positive with negative, and emotion with hard-headed logic, to energise the electorate. And this helped fuel the SNP's subsequent landslide success in last May's UK General Election when it won 56 of 59 Scottish seats in the Westminster Parliament (up from only six seats in 2010), and the strong possibility this May of a majority government in the Scottish elections for the Edinburgh Parliament.