With, not without EU: U2 urges Irish voters to go against Brexit

London: Irish rockers U2 said Wednesday that a European Union without Britain seemed “unimaginable”, a day before the tight vote on whether to leave the bloc. The four-piece band backed a campaign urging Irish voters to back the “Remain” campaign in Thursday’s referendum. Due to historic ties, Irish citizens aged 18 or over and resident in the United Kingdom or Gibraltar can vote in the referendum, as can Commonwealth citizens. [caption id=“attachment_2850544” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bono (R) and The Edge from U2. Reuters [/caption] On Facebook, U2 reposted a video created by the pro-Remain Irish4Europe campaign, which says it is targeting around 600,000 Irish-born people living and working in Britain. “We were asked to repost this video, we like it and we’re humbled to be in it,” the band said. “For Irish voters in Britain, don’t go we’d miss you. “Europe without Britain seems unimaginable to us. Bono, Edge, Adam, Larry.” The video recalled the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of bloodshed between pro-Irish Catholics and pro-British Protestants in Northern Ireland. It said the agreement had taken away many barricades and borders and that relations between Britain and Ireland were now at a high point. Ireland and the UK have shared a passport-free Common Travel Area ever since Irish independence. They entered the European Economic Community at the same time in 1973. The Republic of Ireland wants Britain to stay in the EU. “We want the UK, as our friend, closest neighbour and partner, to remain a member of a reformed EU,” the Irish embassy in London wrote on its website. The What UK Thinks website’s average of the last six opinion polls puts the “Remain” camp on 51 percent and the “Leave” camp on 49 percent.