Brexit referendum marks Britons' most important decision in decades, political experts say

Up to 46 million Britons will make their most important decision in decades in Thursday's referendum on the nation's membership in the EU, according to political experts.

Their votes will decide the nation's future, either as one of the 28 member states of the European Union, or as a self-governing island country.

The decision, said Prime Minister David Cameron, will have wide implications for generations to come. People yet unborn will have to live with a decision taken on June 23, 2016, he said.

Britain joined what was the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973 without a referendum, though in a national poll two years later the country voted by a margin of two to one to remain in the bloc.

Jon Tonge, a politics professor at the University of Liverpool, told Xinhua that "this will be the most important decision Britons will make in their lives. Those few minutes people spend in polling stations on Thursday are hugely important."

"You can sense that the British public is agonising on this question. Earlier today I was walking past a construction site in Liverpool and I could hear building workers arguing about whether to stay or leave. As well as being important, it will be the most difficult decision people will take."

Opinion polls have shown the Remain and Leave sides are neck and neck in terms of voter support.

"There is no clear indication of how the vote will go," said Tonge, adding he did not expect a second referendum if the Remain side wins, but there could be further referendums if Brexit were to win by a small margin.

"In Ireland they had several re-runs of EU referendums until they finally reached a conclusion" to accept relevant treaties, he said.

Thursday, added Tonge, could be the most dramatic day in British political history, but that drama will lessen if Remain scores a conclusive victory.

The Remain side has constantly warned about the risk to the British economy and the threat to hundreds of thousands of jobs if the Leave side wins the referendum. It will slam the door, they say, on a single market of over 500 million people, leaving Britain to arrange trade agreements not just with the EU, but around the world.

Brexit supporters say the 50 million pounds (74 million U.S. dollars) a day Britain pays to Europe can instead be used to boost the British economy and support the cash-strapped National Health Service. They also say the referendum is Britain's last chance to control its borders in the wake of massive immigration from poorer EU member states.

But another fear has loomed on the horizon with a Brexit win, the prospect of other EU member states deciding they want to follow Britain and leave the EU.

Peter Stoney, honorary senior fellow at the University of Liverpool's Management School, believes a Brexit could have ramifications for the EU.

Cameron and the Remain camp accept that the EU must be reformed, but they say it is better for Britain to stay so it can play a key role in those reforms.

Stoney feared a Brexit could lead to disintegration of the eurozone.

source : xinhua