From Branson to Bilimoria – Over 1,200 business leaders are backing Remain

Who are you going to vote for?

Over 1,200 business leaders have written an open letter to their employees to urge them to vote Remain ahead of tomorrow’s crunch EU vote.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, Cobra Beer founder Lord Karan Bilimoria and Anne Summers head Jacqueline Gold are among entrepreneurs who are backing Remain.

Of the 1,200 businesses, 50 are FTSE-100 companies while 910 smaller firms. They together employ a whopping 1.75 million people.

In their letter, the business leaders wrote: “We know our firms are stronger in Europe.

“Our reasons are straightforward: businesses and their employees benefit massively from being able to trade inside the world’s largest single market without barriers.

“As business people, we are always looking to the future – and a future inside the European Union is where we see more opportunities for investment, growth and new jobs.

“We know that Britain leaving the EU would mean having to re-establish terms of trade from scratch with our home market of 500 million consumers. That wouldn’t just hurt exporters but the hundreds of thousands of small and medium firms who do business with them.

“Even those that want Britain to leave say that, in the short term, Brexit would lead to economic uncertainty and would put jobs at risk. Smaller businesses and the people they employ are particularly vulnerable to any economic shock which could follow a vote to leave the EU.

“Britain leaving the EU would mean uncertainty for our firms, less trade with Europe and fewer jobs. Britain remaining in the EU would mean the opposite – more certainty, more trade and more jobs.

“EU membership is good for business and good for British jobs. That’s why, on June 23rd, we back Britain remaining in the EU.”