The battle for Brexit has officially started
The polls show that the public is pretty much split 50/50, so there is everything for both sides to play for.
The electoral commission appointed Britain Stronger in Europe as the official Remain organisation and Vote Leave as the official Leave organisation earlier this week. Both organisations will be given £600,000 of public money and will be allowed to spend £7 million of their own money. They will also be given TV broadcast slots and can send pamphlets to every British household.
There were worries that the entire campaign could be delayed by a legal challenge from Leave.EU, a rival Brexit organisation to Vote Leave who were unhappy that they weren't made the official Leave campaign. Their confirmation on Thursday that they wouldn't be pursuing legal action meant that the EU referendum campaign could go ahead and guarantees that the vote will be held on June 23.
Both official campaign groups contain a mix of politicians from all the main parties, so we are going to see politicians who usually oppose each other sharing the same platforms and campaigning together. On Thursday, the Remain campaign organised a phone bank session that Prime Minister David Cameron, former Labour Leader Neil Kinnock, former Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown, former Labour minister Tessa Jowell and Green Party politician Darren Johnson appeared at together.
Vote Leave's chairwoman is Labour MP Gisela Stuart and their most recognisable spokesperson is Mayor of London Boris Johnson. He will give a speech on Friday in Manchester arguing that it would be better to spend the fees Britain has to pay to be a member of the EU on the National Health Service.
Britain Stronger in Europe's first big event on Friday will feature former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling who will warn that it's "simply not a risk worth taking" of leaving the EU.