Leaving the EU is as serious a threat to British national security as World War II or the Cuban Missile Crisis, one of Scotland’s most eminent legal minds has warned.
Sir David Edward, who served as a judge in the European Courts of Justice, said the threat from “autocratic and unpredictable” Russian president Vladimir Putin made EU membership a “moral obligation”.
Addressing an audience in Edinburgh, the 82-year-old said military threats in the Baltic, as well as the Middle East, made it paramount the UK remain in the EU.
But last night the assistant director of Scottish Vote Leave, Braden Davy, rubbished the claims.
Sir David said: “I think that we are now in a situation as dangerous as any time in my life since the war.
“I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis – I remember sitting wondering what was going to happen when Khrushchev backed down – but apart from that we are in a very, very dangerous situation.
“We have Russia ruled by what one can only call an autocrat – an unpredictable autocrat – with ambitions as you have seen to reclaim Ukraine and the Baltic republics.
“There are Russian submarines in the Baltic, there are Russian plans over Britain and the countries between here and Russia.
“It isn’t safe and, in my view, we have a moral obligation to the Baltic Republics and the countries which escaped the
Russian clutch to maintain the situation of political and economic security in Europe.”
Sir David admitted that Nato had “a part” to play in standing up to a resurgent Russia.
But he added: “Apart from (Russia) there is the problem of the Middle East, there is the problem of migration from Africa, and again it seems to me we have a moral obligation.
“We cannot simply say to Spain, Italy and Greece, ‘you cope with it’. We have a moral obligation to help them to do so.”
But Mr Davy said “even Nicola Sturgeon” has dismissed comments such as those by Sir David as “ridiculous scaremongering”.
He added: “The EU has done nothing to sustain the peace in Europe. The peace has been secured by Nato.
“The EU is a risk to stability and peace in Europe. Austerity enforced by the EU has destabilised southern Europe, while a complete failure to deal with the migrant crisis has increased tensions across the continent.
“Scotland and the UK will be safer and stronger outside of the European Union”
