Roundup: Turkey, EU borders dominate Britain's referendum debate

British Justice Secretary Michael Gove attacked the government's policy on Turkey Wednesday as appeasement, claiming allowing the country to join the EU would be a security danger.

Gove is a leading member of the Leave campaign wanting Britons in a national referendum on June 23 to exit the EU.

Although Gove is also a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's governing cabinet, he said it was official British Government policy for Turkey to join the EU, and also official EU policy for Turkey to become a member of the 28-nation European Union.

"The Commission has announced the pace of Turkey's accession will be accelerated," said Gove.

Another Brexit support, Justice Minister Dominic Raab hit out at border controls within the EU saying leaving would enable Britain to regain control of its frontiers.

Raab claimed a trade journal in Cyprus was advertising EU passports for sale.

"Once people buy these EU passports and with it citizenship of an EU member state, they have the automatic right to come to the UK because of 'free movement,'" Raab said.

"Imagine how much worse this problem will be after the next wave of EU accessions," he said, adding EU's own border agency had admitted documents are forged on a systematic basis.

In a speech Wednesday afternoon at the London headquarters of think-tank Chatham House, former Conservative foreign secretary William Hague, warned Britain leaving Europe could "intensify" the "risk of the West splitting and turning in on itself."

Hague described as a "total fantasy" the belief that leaving the EU would not damage the British economy. He hit out at what he said was the "bland assurance" of Leave campaigners that Britain would negotiate a satisfactory deal with the EU in the event of a Brexit.

Describing himself as a one-time Eurosceptic, Hague said: "There are important reasons why even those of us with critical and sceptical views of Europe should cast our votes to remain."

Hague famously, as leader of his party, fought to keep Britain out of the euro zone.

In his speech, Hague said: "The idea that we can leave the EU without any serious economic consequences for jobs and businesses in Britain, and somehow have more money to spend on the NHS and other services at the same time, is a total fantasy.

"I'm the first to say Europe isn't perfect. I've spent my political life standing up to it. But for all its imperfections, it protects jobs and boosts our standing and power in the world. As an outright eurosceptic, leaving the European Union would be downright irresponsible."

Another life-long Eurosceptic, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, has agreed to face live TV questions just three days before the vote. He will face quizzing from an audience of young people on the Sky news network on June 20.

Meanwhile, the government Wednesday night introduced emergency measures to extend the deadline for voting registration until midnight Thursday (June 9). It followed a last minute frenzy to register ahead of a Tuesday night deadline, crashing the computer system. An estimated 500,000 people were trying to register in the last few hours of Tuesday. Endit