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Prime Minister David Cameron visits Faversham brewery Shepherd Neame

13:00, 03 June 2016

The Prime Minister has used a visit to Kent to reiterate his warning that leaving the EU would damage jobs and the economy.

David Cameron made a visit to the Shepherd Neame brewery in Faversham today where he said that the economic prospects for the country would be better if the country stayed in the EU.

He also said he was confident the party could answer questions over allegations of election expenses.

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Prime Minister David Cameron visits the Shepherd Neame Brewery in Faversham.
Prime Minister David Cameron visits the Shepherd Neame Brewery in Faversham.

A court ruled this week that Kent Police should have more time to probe the claims concerning expenditure in South Thanet.

On the referendum next month, he said the economy was the key issue.

VIDEO: David Cameron talks about the remain campaign.

"It is crucial to Britain’s fortunes that we choose to be there and have full access to the single market," he said.

"If the British economy suffers more generally from a self-induced shock by leaving, then that is bad for businesses."

Prime Minister David Cameron visits the Shepherd Neame Brewery in Faversham.
Prime Minister David Cameron visits the Shepherd Neame Brewery in Faversham.

He downplayed concerns about the security of the UK’s borders following an incident in which a group of Albanians had to be rescued from a boat off the Kent coast at Dymchurch.

He said: "We are seeing more investment going into border forces, that is important. But we need to stand back and ask ourselves the question: if we leave the EU, will this problem get any better? No, in my view it will get worse.

"Leaving the EU does not make the channel wider. It just means you get less co-operation between European countries.

"The crucial thing is that we maintain our border, which we do because we are not in Schengen, and maintain the very close co-operation and intelligence and information sharing with our European partners, which we can do through the EU.

"Having border controls is a classic example. It is clearly to our advantage that the border is in Calais and we work with the French to police and man it properly."

He denied that the incident in Dymchurch reflected a lack of control over the UK’s borders, adding: "We are able to stop anyone and everyone and exclude them if we think they are a risk to our country."

Prime Minister David Cameron is leading the Remain camp
Prime Minister David Cameron is leading the Remain camp

Mr Cameron was questioned on how public services will cope with additional pressures if Britain stays in the EU and the government does not claim a firmer control on migration.

He said: "In the bigger picture, we will be better able to fund public services if we remain in the EU because we will have a stronger economy.

"The treasury forecast demonstrates that if you come out of the EU and our economy gets smaller and tax receipts come down, we would actually have £36billion to spend on our public services, so there is no saving from leaving the EU, there’s a cost."

"In a bigger picture, we will be better able to fund public services if we remain in the EU because we will have a stronger economy" - PM David Cameron

Speaking about the impacts on young people in Kent and nationwide, Mr Cameron said the future would be "full of opportunities" if we remained in the EU.

He added: "There is no doubt that we will have great opportunities if we remain part of an organisation like the EU.

"We are the fifth biggest economy in the world, we are a great country, but there is no doubt in my mind that we can make our country greater still and create opportunities for particularly young people if we stay in, because you have the opportunity to work, live, study and travel in 28 different countries.

"My worry is that the next decade of young people's life will be taken over, the energy will be sucked out of the government and out of the country, by trying to settle the issue and what exactly our relationship is with the EU, and the trade and the rest of the world.

"That is a waste of energy and effort. What we need to focus on is how can we make sure the economy can keep moving forward and keep creating opportunities."

Chief executive of Shepherd Neame Jonathan Neame with Prime Minister David Cameron and Faversham MP Helen Whately in Faversham today.
Chief executive of Shepherd Neame Jonathan Neame with Prime Minister David Cameron and Faversham MP Helen Whately in Faversham today.

On the allegations facing the Conservatives about election expenditure, he said: "I am confident that we can answer all the questions being asked, specifically on the battle bus. All political parties have run buses on a national basis and that is what we did."

Jonathan Neame, the chief executive of Shepherd Neame, said he believed there was a "commercial logic" to staying in.

"The commercial logic of trading with one’s near neighbours is overwhelming; there are huge benefits that come from that. It could be quite dangerous and cause an economic shock if we came out," he said.

Mr Cameron’s visit was his first foray into the county on the referendum campaign trail.

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