Hundreds of business leaders back Brexit
Dozens of backbenchers ready to support motion of no confidence in PM to force him to quit early
MORE than 300 business leaders today call on Britain to vote to leave the European Union, saying that the country’s competitiveness “is being undermined by our membership”. In a letter published in today’s Daily
Telegraph, the business leaders say that Brussels’ red tape “stifles every one of Britain’s 5.4 million businesses” and claim that a Brexit would allow them to “create more jobs”.
Signatories to the letter include Peter Goldstein, a founder of Superdrug; Steve Dowdle, a former vice-president Europe of Sony; David Sismey, a managing director of Goldman Sachs and Sir Patrick Sheehy, former chairman of British American Tobacco.
The letter is also signed by hundreds of people linked to small and mediumsized businesses. The letter’s backers employ hundreds of thousands of staff.
It will be seen as an attempt to redress the balance after the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund last week warned that a Brexit would damage Britain’s economy. It came as:
Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, said that Brexit campaigners are in denial about the economic risk of the UK leaving the EU, in an intervention described as “incredibly dangerous” by a minister.
George Osborne, the Chancellor, will today make a speech warning about the economic cost of a Brexit.
Boris Johnson prompted a row by comparing the EU to Nazi Germany.
Senior Conservatives said that as many as 100 Tory backbenchers could back a “no confidence” vote in David Cameron even if Britain votes to remain in the EU.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said that he will under no circumstances share a platform with Mr Cameron ahead of the referendum.
Three million EU citizens in Britain could have to be deported in the event of a Brexit, a Home Office minister suggested.
The letter in today’s Daily Telegraph is signed by 306 business leaders in a personal capacity.
It states: “Brussels’ red tape stifles every one of Britain’s 5.4 million businesses, even though only a small minority actually trade with the EU.
“It is business – not government – which generates wealth for the Treasury and jobs for our communities. Outside the EU, British business will be free to grow faster, expand into new markets and create more jobs.”
Meanwhile, Lord Farmer, the former treasurer of the Conservative Party and the founder of Red Kite Group, who is also a signatory of the letter, writes on the Telegraph website that warnings of the risk of a Brexit are “misguided”.
Lord Farmer writes: “Britain, the world’s fifth-biggest economy, should be confident that others will want to trade freely with it especially if, like the EU, they already do so.
“Nor will EU countries want to restrict their access to the London markets. Canary Wharf alone does more business than Frankfurt and we are Europe’s financial outlet to the world.”
David Cameron’s Remain campaign believes that it can win the June 23 vote by focusing on the risks of a Brexit to the economy.
Mr Osborne is in the coming days expected to announce a major report into how the value of houses will fall if Britain leaves the EU.
AS MANY as 100 MPs could be prepared to support a vote of no confidence in David Cameron even if Britain votes to remain in the EU, Tory sources have claimed.
Backbenchers furious at the way Mr Cameron and his allies have conducted the referendum campaign are considering calling for him to go, even in the scenario that he wins the June 23 vote by a significant margin.
Just 50 Tory MPs are needed to trigger a vote of no confidence in the party’s leader.
Around 150 Conservative MPs are thought to back Brexit, although a number of them have not publicly stated their intentions.
Mr Cameron will almost certainly win a no confidence vote, allowing him to continue as Prime Minister. However, the rebels will then threaten to ensure that government legislation cannot be passed in the Commons unless Mr Cameron pledges to step down earlier than 2019.
The Conservatives have a parliamentary majority of just 12, meaning rebels can easily prevent legislation from getting through the Commons.
Mr Cameron’s opponents believe that if he quits as Prime Minister before 2019, it increases the chances of his successor being a minister who backed the Brexit campaign, most likely to be Boris Johnson.
They are concerned that if Mr Cameron remains in Downing Street until just before the next general election in 2020, he will be able to spend the next four years “rehabilitating” George Osborne, whose popularity in the Tory party has nosedived in recent months.
According to sources, the MPs will call for a vote of no confidence in Mr Cameron in the weeks after a Remain vote.
The plotters are angry at his decision to spend £9 million of taxpayers’ money on a pro-EU leaflet sent to every household.
They have also been enraged by his warnings on the consequences of a Brexit vote, particularly his suggestion that it could lead to war in Europe.
They believe the campaign “has not been a fair fight” and will “show Cameron that it will not be forgotten by the Eurosceptics in the Conservative Party”, a source said.
Before the 2015 general election, Mr Cameron said he would step down after serving a full second term in office.
He and his allies have insisted that he will stay on as Prime Minister “until the end of this Parliament”.
However, MPs planning the vote of no confidence want to force him to set out “an earlier timetable of departure”.
Mr Johnson and Theresa May, the Home Secretary, are now considered to be the most likely candidates to replace Mr Cameron. Mr Osborne, the previous favourite to succeed Mr Cameron, is now considered to be an outsider after a series of about-turns and criticism from backbenchers about his warnings of economic chaos if Britain votes to leave the EU.