David Cameron made a last-minute appeal to Angela Merkel to limit free movement of people if the UK voted to remain in the European Union, it has been reported. “The problem with that figure – the 4,300 – was firstly it sounded implausibly large to the ears of most people. “The figure was sort of humanely phased out because we found when we tested the reaction in focus groups, we found people just rejected it. The pollster Lord Cooper, a close ally of Cameron, told Newsnight: “The people who are very, very concerned about immigration, what they wanted was purely and simply for the UK to be able to have total control of its borders and total control of the flow of people into this country. “It meant we couldn’t really engage in the campaign on that vital issue.

Source: The Guardian July 23, 2016 08:15 UTC