LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Ministers past and present united this week to urge wavering Britons to stay in the EU as money markets trembled and opinion polls continued to show the nation almost equally divided between the "In" and "Out" camps.
One of the week's abiding images was that of David Cameron standing against a scenic backdrop high above London's River Thames as he denied he was worried he might be losing the argument.
Former Labour premiers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown declared that only the votes of Labour supporters, many of whom seemed unaware that their party supports the In camp, could swing the result of the June 23 referendum. "If Labour stays at home, Britain leaves," they said in a letter to the Guardian newspaper
Blair and the previous Conservative Prime Minister John Major meanwhile warned that peace in Northern Ireland and the union with Scotland were at risk if Britain were to leave.
Financial heavyweights were at odds during the week. The world's biggest asset manager Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) suggested markets may be underpricing the risk of Britain leaving the EU.
But George Soros, the man who famously "broke the Bank of England" in 1992 when Britain was forced to pull sterling out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, said he was confident the In camp was getting stronger as polling day approached.
Turnout was a key theme of the week, with several analysts saying a high percentage would favour the "In" camp since it would suggest younger voters, who are widely assumed to be EU supporters, had bothered to cast their ballots.
As the voter registration period was extended for two days after computer problems, it emerged hat the Electoral Commission is planning for turnout of around 80 percent, well above the 66 percent of last year's general election.
MONEY
Since falling to a low of $1.38 in February, the pound has held up well in the face of concerns about a Brexit, dealers said.
But the cost of hedging against swings in sterling's exchange rate over the next month soared to its highest in more than seven years this week.
The Swiss franc hit an eight-week peak and the Danish crown held near one-month highs against the euro, as investors bought safe-haven currencies on worries that Britain may vote to leave.. Appetite for gold bars and coins was also healthy.
POLLS
ICM online May 31 - 44 pct In, 47 pct Out
ICM telephone May 31 - 42 pct In, 45 pct Out
YouGov online June 1 - 41 pct In, 41 pct Out
Opinium online June 4 - 43 pct In, 41 pct Out
TNS online June 6 - 41 pct In, 43 pct Out
YouGov online June 6 - 41 pct In, 45 pct Out
ICM online June 6 - 43 pct In, 48 pct Out
FULL COVERAGE
For full multimedia coverage please click: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=brexit For all news on the referendum, click on BRXT For a PDF of stories on Brexit: http://share.thomsonreuters.com/assets/newsletters/Adhoc/Brexit.pdf For a graphic of opinion polls: http://tmsnrt.rs/1Ke31HF
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"Only Labour can save Britain from Brexit" - former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
"In is in. Out is out" - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on whether Britain would be able to continue to benefit from the European single market.
"There are obviously still high levels of ignorance about the EU" - Anand Menon, Director of researcher UK in a Changing Europe, after a poll showed voters' ideas of the impact of the European Union on life in Britain are mistaken in many areas, from the level of immigration to non-existent rules over barmaids' cleavages.
"The NHS is about as safe with them as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python," - John Major talking about the prospects of the National Health Service if Out campaigners Boris Johnson and Michael Gove rose to power after an Out vote.