Source Dailymail
Tonight, David Cameron was heated by audience members over immigration, his Project Fear tactics and 'waffling' as he argued that Britain is better off in the EU.
The Prime Minister conceded that inflows from Europe were 'challenging' and refused to say when he would achieve his target for slashing numbers - but insisted that cutting ties with Brussels was not the answer.
The British prime minister also urged for voters to 'look our children, our grandchildren in the eye' before making a decision and not 'roll the dice' with their future.
The appeal came as Mr Cameron - who has long been accused of tightly controlling his contact with ordinary members of the public - faced a series of fiery interventions during the first big televised event of the referendum battle
an interview by Sky News political editor Faisal Islam, during which Mr Cameron was confronted with last week's huge immigration figures.
Net migration to the UK was 333,000 in the year to December - the second highest ever. A record 184,000 of those came from the EU, with around 77,000 arriving without having a job lined up.
Mr Cameron refused say when levels would be reduced to his long-standing target of below 100,000.
Admitting that since 2010 around 1.2 million EU citizens had come to the UK, Mr Cameron said: 'Immigration is a challenge and it's a particular challenge when our economy has been growing strongly, we've been creating jobs and people have come to our country to work.
'But I think the way to meet that challenge mustn't be to leave the single market, harm our economy, hurt jobs and damage our country, so we've got to find the right ways of dealing with the movement of people, not the wrong way.'
Mr Cameron said the EU often drove him 'crazy', and was 'not perfect
But he insisted Britons were not 'quitters' and leaving would result in a decade of uncertainty.
Mr Cameron said: 'If you are saying to me, "Are there regulations in Europe that annoy you?" Yes. "Are there things about Europe that frustrate you?" Yes.
'I'm the Prime Minister who sits around the table with 27 other heads of government and state and sometimes this organisation drives me crazy.
'But do I sit there and think Britain would be better off if we left? Are we quitters? Do we think we quit the EU, we quit the single market and somehow we will be better off? Absolutely not.'
Mr Cameron stressed that the EU 'would not stop existing' after Britain left and we would have our 'noses pressed up against the window' while they made key decisions.
He accused Brexit campaigners of repeatedly saying it was 'all going to be okay' rather than spelling out what the country would look like after a Leave vote.
He said 'uncertainty' and 'shock' would hit the economy and prices in the shops would end up being higher.
Mr Cameron clashed with Mr Islam over the PM's claims that leaving the EU would bring 'war and genocide' back to Europe and trigger an economic recession in the UK.
The journalist drew laughter and applause from the studio audience as he asked the PM: 'What comes first: World War Three or the global Brexit recession?'
But Mr Cameron shot back by accusing Mr Islam of being 'incredibly glib' and misinterpreting his remarks. 'Read my speech, the words 'World War Three never entered my lips.'
He added: 'On our continent – in the last century – twice we had an enormous bloodbath between our nations.
'Can we be so confident that we've solved all of Europe's problems and all of Europe's tensions?
'I sit round the European Council table, it can be immensely frustrating but when you're there you never forget 70 years these countries were fighting each other. I don't think you should take that for granted.
'Frankly, Nato has done the most to keep the peace in Europe but the European Union has been a way of getting countries that used to fight each other to talk to each other.'
The premier faced fierce questions from a live studio audience, picked to represent the wider public, in the second half of the programme, chaired by presenter Kay Burley.
Soraya Bouazzaoui, a second generation Moroccan immigrant from Romford who has just finished an English Literature degree at Solent University, challenged the Government on whether Turkey would be allowed to join the EU.
She asked: 'I've strongly been wanting to vote to stay in the EU but to be honest the entire campaign has been a complete shambles for it; I've seen nothing but scaremongering, I've seen no valid fact at all, I've seen no pros and cons.
'Everything that I've seen has just made voting into the EU look worse and what I also find interesting is that we haven't even addressed the fact that Turkey are wanting to become an ever-closer union with the EU when they are under such heavy accusation by the entire Middle East for funding Isis?
'How can you reassure us of staying in the EU and saying there are no risks when there are clear risks, especially when it comes to Isis, especially when have turned away so many refugees at the fear of having them being extremists and not willing to work with the Turkish government that had a brawl in their parliament just two weeks ago?'
When Mr Cameron tried to respond by deploying broad arguments for staying in the EU - saying it was important to stay in to 'get things done in the world – Ms Bouazzaoui interrupted by telling the PM: 'You're not answering my question'.
She told him: 'Let me finish now, because I've seen you interrupt many people beforehand, let me finish now.
CAMERON'S KEY DEBATE LINES
ON IMMIGRATION
'Immigration is a challenge and it's a particular challenge when our economy has been growing strongly, we've been creating jobs and people have come to our country to work.
'But I think the way to meet that challenge mustn't be to leave the single market, harm our economy, hurt jobs and damage our country, so we've got to find the right ways of dealing with the movement of people, not the wrong way.'
ON BRUSSELS 'DRIVING HIM CRAZY'
'If you are saying to me, "Are there regulations in Europe that annoy you?" Yes. "Are there things about Europe that frustrate you?" Yes.
'I'm the Prime Minister who sits around the table with 27 other heads of government and state and sometimes this organisation drives me crazy.
'But do I sit there and think Britain would be better off if we left? Are we quitters? Do we think we quit the EU, we quit the single market and somehow we will be better off? Absolutely not.'
ON WAR IN EUROPE
'On our continent – in the last century – twice we had an enormous bloodbath between our nations.
'Can we be so confident that we've solved all of Europe's problems and all of Europe's tensions?
'I sit round the European Council table, it can be immensely frustrating but when you're there you never forget 70 years these countries were fighting each other. I don't think you should take that for granted.
ON OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE
'I would just say to everybody: as we go home and wake up in the morning and look our children and our grandchildren in the eye and we think who we are responsible for through our pay packet, let us not roll the dice on their future.
'Britain doesn't succeed when we quit, we succeed when we get stuck in and we work to improve these organisations and we safeguard the prosperity and the security of this great country. To me, that's what it's all about.'
'That is not answering the question – I'm an English Literature student, I know waffling when I see it, okay? I'm sorry.
'You have not answered my question – how can you reassure the people who do want to vote Out that we are safe from extremism when we are willing to work with a government like Turkey, who want to be part of the EU, when they are under heavy accusation [of links to Isis]?'
An uncomfortable-looking Mr Cameron, who appeared to have a sheen of sweat on his top lip, insisted: 'There is no prospect of Turkey joining the EU in decades; they applied in 1987, they have to complete 35 chapters, one has been completed so far, at this rate they'll join in the year 3,000.
'There are lots of reasons to vote one way or vote the other way; Turkey is not going to join the EU anytime soon, every country, every Parliament has a veto.
'I think there are lots of things to worry about in this referendum campaign; I absolutely don't think that's a prospect, it's not going to happen.'
Speaking after the grilling, Ms Bouazzaoui said she had wanted to give the premier a 'taste of his own medicine'.
The student said Mr Cameron had spent six years being 'dishonest, untruthful, brushing a lot of things under the rug'.
'For someone to finally call him out on it was necessary,' she added.
Asked by another audience member whether he would vote to join the EU if we were not currently members, Mr Cameron said: 'If I was offered the terms that Britain has I would accept them.'
Former mental health nurse Alison Hyde-Chadwick said she feared public services were 'sinking' under the 'never-ending stream' of migrants.
‘How do we deal with increased demands on public services with a seemingly never-ending stream of people arriving from Europe?’ she said.
'I think we’re struggling, I think we’re sinking, how do we deal with the increased demands on our public services the seemingly never-ending stream of people arriving from Europe?'
Mr Cameron replied: ‘What we have to do is keep investing in our public services and keep investing in our NHS.
‘I would say the most important thing here is the worst thing we could do for our NHS is to wreck our economy by taking ourselves out of the single market.'
He added that it was 'worth remembering' there were '50,000 European nationals – French and Germans and others – working in our NHS as doctors and nurses and care assistants ... and they do a very important job'.
Mr Cameron urged parents to think about their children's future when making the decision on June 23.
'I would just say to everybody: as we go home and wake up in the morning and look our children and our grandchildren in the eye and we think who we are responsible for through our pay packet, let us not roll the dice on their future.
'Britain doesn't succeed when we quit, we succeed when we get stuck in and we work to improve these organisations and we safeguard the prosperity and the security of this great country. To me, that's what it's all about
Both the Remain and Leave camps are hoping that the televised events during the last three weeks of the referendum battle could swing the vote their way.
But Mr Cameron has been heavily criticised for refusing to take part in any head-to-head debates - instead merely agreeing to the Question Time-style programmes.
Justice Secretary Michael Gove is due to take to the stage in the second Sky News special tomorrow.
The PM's appearance came after another frantic day of campaigning that saw interventions from abroad and George Osborne team up with Labour predecessor Alistair Darling to urge a Remain vote.
Angela Merkel has become the latest foreign politician to wade into the EU referendum debate, warning that Britain will not get a 'good result' if we vote to leave.
The German chancellor raised the prospect of the UK getting a raw deal from the rest of the bloc as she made a personal appeal for us to stay.
The intervention comes after the Dutch PM suggested there would be retaliation tougher immigration controls were imposed after Brexit. The Spanish premier has also hinted that British expats may have to come home if we cut ties with Brussels.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn again delivered lukewarm backing for British membership of the EU in a speech amid concerns within Remain about whether Labour voters will turn out.
While insisting that wanted to maintain ties with Brussels, the party leader dismissed George Osborne's claim that Brexit would cause recession as he slammed the 'myth-making and prophecies of doom' issued by the Treasury.
He also admitted that people were entitled to be 'disconcerted' by rapid immigration, and that did not make them 'Little Englanders, xenophobes or racists'.
But he said this was not the fault of new arrivals and blamed the Tory government for failing to ensure there were enough schools and hospitals available for communities.
Immigration was thrown to the heart of the referendum battle by official migration statistics revealing record numbers are travelling from Europe while people smugglers have begun efforts to send people over the Channel illegally in small boats.
Mr Osborne joined forces with his Labour predecessor Alistair Darling today to slam Vote Leave for 'making up' its plans for Brexit.
Here are pictures of the party loving lady that put the Prime Minister on Heat
Soraya, a second generation Moroccan immigrant, said she was in favour of staying in the EU but signalled she was having second thoughts after Cameron's 'shambolic campaign'.
The student, from Romford in east London, has regularly posted racy pictures of herself on Facebook during her time at Southampton Solent, revealing a typical party-fuelled student life.
On one night out she showed off her 'Mrs. Captain America in disguise' outfit - attracting many Facebook 'likes' from her friends.
As Cameron set out his broad and vague pitch for staying in the EU, Soraya butted in by telling him: ‘That is not answering the question – I’m an English Literature student, I know waffling when I see it.'
Clashing directly with the PM, she tore into his strategy on the EU referendum so far. ‘I’ve strongly been wanting to vote to stay in the EU but to be honest the entire campaign has been a complete shambles for it; I’ve seen nothing but scaremongering, I’ve seen no valid fact at all, I’ve seen no pros and cons,' she shouted.
She demanded Cameron give reassurances on Turkey's membership of the EU, saying the country should not be allowed to join the EU because of its links to Isis.
An uncomfortable-looking Mr Cameron insisted: 'There is no prospect of Turkey joining the EU in decades; they applied in 1987, they have to complete 35 chapters, one has been completed so far, at this rate they'll join in the year 3,000.
'There are lots of reasons to vote one way or vote the other way; Turkey is not going to join the EU anytime soon, every country, every Parliament has a veto.
'I think there are lots of things to worry about in this referendum campaign; I absolutely don't think that's a prospect, it's not going to happen.'
Speaking after the grilling, Ms Bouazzaoui said she had wanted to give the premier a 'taste of his own medicine'.
The student said Mr Cameron had been 'dishonest, untruthful, brushing a lot of things under the rug'.
'For someone to finally call him out on it was necessary,' she added.
According to dailymail
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