The Mail on Sunday split from its pro-Brexit daily stablemate and has backed staying in the EU.
The move follows several weeks of Mail on Sunday editorial coverage which has favoured Remain over Leave.
The MoS shares an editor-in-chief with the staunchly pro-Leave Daily Mail (Paul Dacre), but MoS editor Geordie Greig has evidently made up his own mind on this issue.
The MoS said in a leader column: “By any calculation, a United Kingdom which left all the structures, markets, restrictions and protections and rules of the European Union would be bound to face higher tariffs, turmoil in the financial markets and a period of economic uncertainty.”
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There was also a split between The Times and Sunday Times.
The Times backed staying in the EU on Saturday, whereas a Sunday Times leader column favoured Brexit. The other Murdoch-owned News UK title, The Sun, has strongly backed leaving the EU in both its news and comment pages.
According to Press Gazette analysis of front pages, The Times (along with i) has been the most even-handed national newspaper in its coverage of the EU referendum.
It said in a leader column: “The Times may once have been regarded as part of the establishment. If so, those times are past. We will take a maverick view where logic and the evidence support it. We have considered every aspect of the European argument with the seriousness and scepticism it deserves. We respect the arguments of those who would have Britain leave, but on balance we believe Britain would be better off leading a renewed drive for reform within the EU rather than starting afresh outside it.”
The Sun on Sunday mirrored the position of the daily Sun with a leader column which said: “A vote for Brexit is all it takes to set Britain free.”
The Sunday Times said a Leave vote would enable Britain to renegotiate is relationship with the European Union: “If Britain votes to leave, we will wake up on June 24 not to a Black Friday or a golden dawn but to renegotiate the ‘fundamental reform’ of Europe that was promised by David Cameron three years ago in his Bloomberg speech. In a real crisis the European Union has always stepped back from the brink.”
The Observer and Guardian are both backing Remain, whereas the Express titles, The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily and Sunday Telegraph all favour Leaving the EU.
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