EU Referendum: Two politicians give their final statements in support of Remain and Leave campaigns ahead of the vote

The referendum campaign has been fraught with many voters still undecided and feeling uninformed about how they will vote.

Ahead of the vote, activists for both the Remain and Leave sides this week put their case forward to Times readers as to why they're backing their respective campaigners

REMAIN: Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South MSP)

"This Thursday I will be voting for Scotland to Remain in the European Union and I urge you to do the same. 

"It will probably come as no surprise that as an SNP MSP what I want to see is an independent Scotland within the EU. Independence in Europe makes sense to me, and to be frank, I struggle to see the logic in arguments to the contrary.

"We are internationalists. My party wants independence for Scotland not to withdraw from the world and shun our neighbours, but to enable us to interact with them as equals.

"No organisation is perfect and there is always room for reform and improvement. I do understand people have legitimate concerns about the EU and I accept that some of its procedures can appear removed from our day to day lives and difficult to follow.

"However, in this campaign there has been considerable overstatement of those issues and the notion that it is anything other than accountable and democratic is at best ill-informed and at worst deliberately misleading.

"There are lots of good reasons to vote to ‘Remain’. From creating jobs and opportunities to environmental protections and securing our rights at work, Europe is good for Scotland.

"But as well as presenting the positive case for Remain, there can be no denying the fact that if we leave Europe, it will be a major victory for right-wing politicians like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, who’re intent on taking over the reins of power in the UK.

"And make no mistake, they will take a Brexit vote as a green light to scrap workers’ rights and employment protection, while slashing public spending even further.

"I want Scotland to have a louder voice in Europe and make an increased contribution to EU policy making, to have an opportunity to be part of discussions about reform. I believe that leaving the EU would be a step backwards, the European project in its various forms has built democracy, peace and prosperity and that’s why I am calling on people to vote remain. 

"Scotland has a real opportunity to play a decisive role in the outcome on Thursday, June 23.  By uniting to vote in big numbers to Remain, people in Scotland can make clear that we reject the right-wing Brexit agenda and vote to protect the substantial social and economic benefits which are guaranteed by our EU membership. Vote Remain."

LEAVE: Jim McDaid (Chair of Irvine & North Ayrshire Trades Union Council)

"Voters could be forgiven if they were under the impression that only the right of the political spectrum were in favour of a leave vote in the forthcoming EU referendum. 

"The reality is starkly different - not only is it the case that virtually all of the political, social and economic establishment support the EU but if we look at history it is a fact that it was a Tory government that took this country into the Common Market.

"It was also the Tory party that campaigned in 1975 for this country to vote to stay in with Margaret Thatcher at the forefront of that campaign.

"The epitome of EU privatising, pro-free market legislation the Single European Act was Margaret Thatcher’s brainchild and we now find it is again a Tory Prime Minister - David Cameron, a Tory chancellor George Osborne and a Conservative government urging that we vote to remain in this anti-democratic, neo-liberal “project”. 

"Alternatively it can also be factually said that it was the left that opposed membership of the common market and campaigned to get us out with people like Tony Benn, Michael Foot and Arthur Scargill at the forefront of the campaign to leave in 1975. 

"And believe it or not, given their latter day Europhile position, the SNP too were opposed to membership of the EU until the advent of Alex Salmond and their contradictory slogan of “Independence in Europe”. 

"It remains the case that much of the traditional left of the labour and trades union movement support the “Leave” position. 

"Why? Because to enact the sort of essential policies in government - industrial regeneration, meeting housing needs, protecting our NHS and supporting public ownership - would all be deemed “illegal” by the undemocratic European Union. 

"On Thursday the people have an opportunity to take back democratic control of our peoples’ and our country’s future. To do so requires a “Leave” vote. 

"On Thursday, vote Leave."