LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday appealed to Britons, especially older voters, to think about the impact leaving the European Union would have on the country and future generations.
With just two days to go until Britain’s referendum on EU membership, polls indicated public opinion is so divided that the outcome is too close to call.
"It will just be you in that polling booth. Just you, taking a decision that will affect your future, your children’s future, your grandchildren’s future," he said in a rare address in front of his Downing Street office, adding that he wanted to appeal directly to people "of my generation and older".
"They can’t undo the decision we take," he said.
"If we vote out, that’s it. It is irreversible. We will leave Europe for good and the next generation will have to live with the consequences far longer than the rest of us."
"Brits don’t quit," he said, using the official backdrop to make a direct pitch to older voters considered more eurosceptic and more likely to vote.
"It will just be you in that polling booth. Just you, taking a decision that will affect your future, your children’s future, your grandchildren’s future."
The Conservative prime minister’s intervention, which was billed as a significant statement but not publicised in advance, came as an opinion poll showed support for remaining in the EU shrinking.
The Survation poll put the "In" camp just one percentage point ahead of the campaign for a so-called Brexit, well within the margin of error.
Commentators said the hastily arranged appearance suggested Cameron, who promised the referendum in 2013 under pressure from lawmakers in his Conservative Party, and the "In" campaign were very worried about the outcome.
"Cameron is panicked, it’s out of his hands now," Arron Banks, a multi-millionaire insurance tycoon who is funding one of the Leave campaigns, said on Twitter.
Raoul Ruparel, co-director of Open Europe, a think-tank, said Cameron wanted to project a solemn, statesmanlike image.
"Because it was called off the cuff it looks panicked, but all people will see from the news are the clips which show him looking very measured and relaxed," Ruparel told Reuters.
"For our children and their children we should be facing the problems of the world together and not alone," he said.
Leave campaigners stepped up their relentless focus on what they call uncontrolled immigration, saying Cameron had been warned four years ago his goal of reducing net arrivals was impossible due to EU rules.
The anti-EU UK Independence Party issued a poster showing a traffic jam with the message "The school over-run" and saying nearly one in four of Britain’s primary schools were full or oversubscribed.