BRUSSELS: (APP) Britain's defence minister on Tuesday warned that the country faced a "very dangerous moment" as polls showed voters increasingly in favour of quitting the European Union in a referendum next week.
"This is a very dangerous moment. No country has ever left either NATO or the EU which are the twin pillars of our security," Michael Fallon told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels.
"For a major country like Britain to leave either of those partnerships would weaken the collective security of the West," he said.
"I would hope voters think very, very hard about the real risks to our security of voting to leave."
Recent opinion polls show a growing lead for "Brexit," with voters ignoring a host of blunt warnings by Prime Minister David Cameron and international bodies that leaving the EU would badly damage the economy and undercut Britain's standing in the world.
European Council President Donald Tusk warned Monday that Brexit could spell the "destruction" of Western political civilisation.