Face-off between Cameron and Farage

In the run-up to the Brexit referendum British Prime Minister David Cameron and Nigel Farage, the leader of the Eurosceptic Ukip party, took questions from the British public in a televised debate. Farage has once again laid bare his limitations as a politician while Cameron was still unable to score points on immigration, commentators write, summing up the debate.

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The Daily Telegraph (GB) /

Cameron not convincing

Particularly on the subject of immigration it became clear that the British prime minister does not have an answer to the people's most pressing questions, The Daily Telegraph comments:

“Overall, he lacked the smooth crispness of his previous performances. Why? He was pressed repeatedly on immigration, his most uncomfortable topic. He couldn’t give an answer on how he would control the numbers of European migrants coming to Britain within the EU because there is no answer. His favoured strategy - keep pushing the debate back to the single market and jobs - just didn’t stick. He briefly hit his stride at the end, criticising the 'Nigel Farage little England option', but it was a bit too little, too late.”

New Statesman (GB) /

A missed opportunity for Farage

In his televised appearance Ukip leader Nigel Farage wasn't able to bring viewers who fear the negative consequences of a Brexit around to his way of thinking, the New Statesman writes:

“If there were no dramatic gaffes from Farage tonight, his performance confirmed his profound limitations. Though he struck populist blows against 'the rich getting richer' and Jean-Claude Juncker ('we're not going to be bullied by anybody, least of all the unelected'), he failed to offer the reassurance that a Brexit-sceptic public craves. 'No deal is better than the rotten deal we've got at the moment,' he declared on the economy, a line perfectly crafted to alienate risk-averse voters. … Farage again showed why he is a 15 per cent politician, not a 50 per cent one.”