The head of Britain's biggest business lobby will make his case in favour of European Union membership in a speech on Wednesday amid heated debate about an in-or-out referendum to be held by 2017. In a speech at the group's annual dinner, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) president Mike Rake is to say that businesses should speak up early in favour of Britain remaining in a reformed EU.
"Business has increasingly spoken out on this crucial issue and the time has come to turn up the volume," Rake was to say according to extracts of the speech given to media. "The question is not whether the UK would survive outside the EU, but whether it would thrive. "No-one has yet set out a credible alternative future to EU membership. The current alternatives are not realistic options," he was to say. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised the referendum in response to Eurosceptic members of his Conservative Party and the rising popularity of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP). Cameron won re-election earlier this month, with the Conservatives taking a majority in parliament. Rake will point to the fact that Norway, while not being a European Union member, is the 10th highest contributor to the EU budget. "Today the moment is ripe for reform," he will add. "So we support the prime minister's drive for a more competitive EU. And the new government can count on business's support to make this happen."
Cameron says he wants Britain to remain in the EU, but only if he can secure reforms such as changes on migration and benefits, and the repatriation of certain powers from Brussels to London. Rake's speech comes a day after Deutsche Bank said it had launched a review to decide whether to relocate some operations to Germany if Britain votes to leave the European Union.
At the moment, most experts do not believe that Britain will actually quit the 28-nation bloc - a scenario referred to as "Brexit". Also this week, the boss of UK construction equipment maker JCB declared that leaving the EU would not "make a blind bit of difference" to Britain's ability to trade with Europe.
Comments
Comments are closed.