In The Press
BNE in the Telegraph – British business leaders: Sceptics putting politics before economics
20 May 2013
Let's take a closer look at that story in the Independent this morning (see 07.05) about some of Britain's most eminent business leaders accusing Eurosceptic MPs of putting "politics before economics" and abandoning the national interest in their calls for Britain to leave the EU. Sir Richard Branson, Lloyds chairman Sir Win Bischoff and Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP have written a letter to the Independent saying that the benefit of EU membership outweighs the cost. Here's their letter in full and a taster of what they had to say:
The economic case to stay in the EU is overwhelming. The creation of the Single Market was instigated by Britain, and is now the world’s largest trading bloc, containing half a billion people with a GDP of £10 trillion. To Britain, membership is estimated to be worth between £31bn and £92bn per year in income gains, or between £1,200 to £3,500 for every household.
What we should now be doing is fighting hard to deliver a more competitive Europe, to combat the criticism of those that champion our departure. We should push to strengthen and deepen the Single Market to include digital, energy, transport and telecoms, which could boost Britain’s GDP by £110bn.