1,000 business leaders back EU renegotiation and a referendum as

Business leaders back EU renegotiation & referendum
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1,000 business leaders back EU renegotiation
and a referendum as new details about the CBI's
EU funding are revealed
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Over 1,000 business leaders have signed up to Business for Britain
as business support for EU renegotiation and a referendum grows
Ahead of the CBI conference, new figures suggest that the EU is the
CBI’s largest financial contributor
Battle lines drawn between business groups, but YouGov polling
shows business leaders support a referendum by 66% to 28%,
backing BfB’s position
Double page advert in the Sunday Telegraph announces new BfB
signatories and urges other business leaders and groups to back a
referendum
Business for Britain, the business campaign for a fundamental change in the UK’s
relationship with the EU, can today announce that it has signed up over 1,000
business leaders, just 18 months after its formation. Signatories to the campaign,
who collectively are responsible for millions of British jobs, all support EU
renegotiation followed by an In/Out referendum.
Click here for a copy of the advert
The support of BfB’s signatories for a referendum is in stark contrast to the position
of the CBI leadership, who have constantly warned against the “uncertainty” and
“political risk” of an EU referendum and the “negative consequences” of the PM’s
strategy. BfB’s position is also backed up by independent polling from YouGov,
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which shows that business leaders support an EU referendum by 66 to 28 per
cent, demonstrating that the CBI is out of touch with mainstream business opinion
on this issue.
The CBI’s commitment to remaining in the EU at all costs is further undermined by
revelations today that they receive significant funding from the European Union. In
fact, the EU could well be the CBI’s biggest single donor.
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Between 2009 and 2013 the CBI received a total of €936,272 (£800,841)
from the European Union, an average of £160,162 per year
The CBI received a regular annual grant annual grant from the EU
averaging €184,025 (£157,331) per year, for “business and consumer
surveys”.
Using the publically estimates on the number of CBI members, which gives
their membership is around 1,800, we can calculate the average
membership subscription to the CBI each year is roughly £10,787. With an
average EU contribution of £160,162 per year, this would suggest that the
European Union could well be the CBI’s largest financial contributor.
The European Commission funding was provided to the CBI for business
surveys. Results of CBI surveys are frequently cited by politicians when
they argue against an EU referendum.
Independent polling of business leaders by YouGov (fairly weighted to
reflect the range of businesses across the UK) reveal that UK firms
overwhelmingly support holding an EU referendum by 66% to 28, including
a majority of leaders of large businesses.
The CBI leadership have attacked David Cameron’s proposals to hold an EU
referendum as creating “uncertainly”, “political risk” and undermining “jobs and
growth”. These attacks, in contrast to the polling, and combined with today’s
revelations about EU funding and the CBI’s historic support for the UK joining the
Euro, calls into question the CBI’s claim to represent British business over the EU.
A full list of the business leaders who have signed up in a personal capacity to
Business for Britain, plus details of notable original signatures and details of BfB's
influential Advisory Council and Board, are all contained in Notes to Editors.
Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of Business for Britain, said: “Judging
business opinion on the EU through a CBI survey is about as accurate as judging
the outcome of the next General Election by polling members of the Conservative
Party. The CBI vigorously campaigned to join the Euro, something that would have
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been an unmitigated economic disaster for this country, and now its leadership are
using the same arguments it deployed then to warn against an EU referendum
now. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now. Independent polling shows
that the overwhelming majority business leaders back an EU referendum because
they know it’s the best way to secure a better EU deal for the UK.”
Alan Halsall, Co-Chairman of Business for Britain and Chairman of Silver
Cross, said: “The growing number of signatories to Business for Britain shows that
business leaders are firmly behind the policy of getting a better deal for the UK
through EU reform and backing up that process with a referendum. It’s vital that
voters are given a say on Britain’s membership of the European Union to ensure
that the process of reform and renegotiation has real teeth. We need the EU to be
more competitive, to trade with more emerging markets across the globe, and to
help, not hinder, our long term economic future.”
BfB spokesmen are available for interview
Media Contact
For more information or to arrange a broadcast interview, please contact:
Robert Oxley
Campaign Director, Business for Britain
[email protected]
07544 933 215
24-hour media hotline: 07901 334 667
Notes to Editors
1. Calculating the CBI’s annual income from the European Union:
The EU provides information on all of its grants, including the money it committed to
the CBI between 2009 and 2013 (set out in Table 1).1
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All information on EU grants can be access from the EU’s Financial Transparency System (FTS) which can be accessed at
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/fts/index_en.htm. Searching the records for the “Confederation of British Industry” brings up
details for each grant
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Table 1: All grants made by the EU to the CBI in the period 2009-13
Reference (Budget)
Subject of grant or contract
Year
2009
Total amount
committed (€)
185,000.00
Total amount
committed (£)
164,664.80
SI2.531589.1 ( BGUE )
UK-CBI GRANT ECFIN/076/2009/531589
SI2.517897.1 ( BGUE )
n/a
2009
8,336.00
7,419.71
SI2.521032.1 ( BGUE )
n/a
2009
1,048.00
932.80
SI2.524770.1 ( BGUE )
n/a
2009
390.00
347.13
SI2.561757.1 ( BGUE )
UK-CBI GRANT ECFIN/092/2010/561757
2010
185,000.00
158,600.50
SI2.549875.1 ( BGUE )
n/a
2010
1,143.00
979.89
SI2.591548.1 ( BGUE )
2011
181,152.00
157,294.28
SI2.580976.1 ( BGUE )
GRANT AGREEMENT BUSINESS AND
CONSUMER SURVEYS
n/a
2011
1,447.00
1,256.43
SI2.583197.2 ( BGUE )
n/a
2011
1,838.00
1,595.94
SI2.618221.1 ( BGUE )
BUSINESS AND CONSUMER SURVEYS
2012
185,000.00
149,979.50
SI2.651340.1 ( BGUE )
THE JOINT HARMONISED EU PROGRAMME
OF BUSINESS AND CONSUMER SURVEYS
n/a
2013
183,973.00
156,119.49
2013
1,945.00
1,650.53
€936,272.00
£800,841.00
SI2.638683.1 ( BGUE )
Total
As can be seen in Table 1, since 2009 the CBI has received regular payments from the
European Commission. During the five year period from 2009 to 2013 (the latest year
for which figures are available) the CBI received annual grants, averaging just over
€184,025 (£157,331.71) per year, to conduct “business and consumer surveys”. Along
with other one-off grants, the CBI received a total of €936,272 (£800,841) from the
European Union between 2009 and 2013, an average of £160,162 per year.
2. Calculating the CBI’s average membership subscription:
It is difficult to calculate the average membership subscription to the CBI because they
do not publish the number of paid-up members they have. The CBI provides a
breakdown of its income from its membership in each year via its Annual Report and
Accounts (this can be found in each Annual Report, as part of its income and
expenditure account). While the CBI claims to represent 190,000 businesses in the
UK, this is complicated by the fact that the CBI has over 150 trade association
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members.2 Independent investigations have been very critical of this, claiming it
artificially inflates the number of actual paid-up members that the CBI has. According
to a report by Friends of the Earth (published in 2005): “If you ignore the trade
associations the CBI has only around 1,800 individual company members.”3
This means that there are two ways of working out what the average membership
subscription to the CBI: we can divide each annual figure by the historic estimate of
1,800 members that Friends of the Earth provided, allowing us to reach a simple
estimate of how much organisation paid in subscription fees, or we can divide the
same annual income by the 190,000 businesses that the CBI claim to speak for. Both
figures are provided in Table 2.
Table 2: Average subscription per CBI member4
Total CBI Income from
membership
subscriptions
Average subscription
per member (assuming
1,800 subscribers)
Average subscription
per member (assuming
190,000 subscribers)
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
TOTAL
AVERAGE
£18,991,000
£18,943,000
£19,435,000
£20,041,000
£19,673,000
£97,083,000
£19,416,600
£10,550.56
£10,523.89
£10,797.22
£11,133.89
£10,929.44
£53,935.00
£10,787.00
£99.95
£99.70
£102.29
£105.48
£103.54
£510.96
£102.19
This therefore suggests that the average annual membership subscription is either
£10,787 or £102. This suggests that the EU’s average contribution of £160,162 per
year could well make them the CBI’s biggest single donor.
3. Examples of CBI opposition to an EU referendum:
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CBI says EU referendum would put investment at risk, Reuters, May 2014
Cameron humiliated as CBI chief attacks EU vote plan, The Herald, August
2014
Don’t hold an EU referendum, coalition of Europhiles tells PM, Independent,
September 2014,
EU referendum row is a 'distraction' from growth and jobs, warns CBI chief
John Cridland, Daily Telegraph, November 2014
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CBI claim to speak for 190,000 businesses can be found here: < http://www.cbi.org.uk/media-centre/newsarticles/2014/07/cbi-ni-responds-to-ni-bank-lending-3714/?print=true> , information on trade association membership can
be found here <http://www.cbi.org.uk/about-the-cbi/what-we-do/cbi-and-trade-associations-serving-the-sectors/>
3 Found at <http://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/hidden_voices.pdf>
4 The Annual Report and Accounts for 2013 can be found at
<http://www.cbi.org.uk/media/2757621/annual_report_2014_web2.pdf>, 2012 can be found at
<http://www.cbi.org.uk/media/2056426/cbi_annual_report_2012.pdf> 2011 can be found at
<http://www.cbi.org.uk/media/1547782/cbi_annual_report_and_accounts_2011.pdf> and 2010 (with revised 2009
figures) can be found at <http://www.cbi.org.uk/media/1144602/cbi-annual-report-2010.pdf>
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4. YouGov polling showing support for an EU referendum:
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By 66% – 26% British business leaders support holding a referendum on
the EU
By 46% – 37% British businesses say that the costs of complying with the
Single Market outweigh the benefits of being in the EU
By 56% – 23% British business leaders believe that ‘meaningful change’ of
our EU relationship requires treaty change and would like to see Britain’s
relationship with Brussels changed to focus on trade
Full details of the YouGov poll for Business for Britain can be found here:
http://forbritain.org/what-business-thinks.pdf
5. About Business for Britain:
Business for Britain is an independent, cross party campaign for a better deal from
the European Union. Launched in April 2013, Business for Britain’s founding
statement has now attracted the signatures (in a personal capacity) of over a
thousand British business leaders. The objective of the campaign is summarised in
a statement that over 500 business leaders signed when the campaign was
launched, and has now attracted the signatures of over 500 more UK business
people:
“As business leaders and entrepreneurs responsible for millions of British jobs, we
believe that the Government is right to seek a new deal for the EU and for the UK’s
role in Europe. We believe that, far from being a threat to our economic interests, a
flexible, competitive Europe, with more powers devolved from Brussels, is essential
for growth, jobs and access to markets. We therefore urge all political parties to join
in committing themselves to a national drive to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s
membership of the EU.”
The Advert can be found here: http://businessforbritain.org/sunteladvert.pdf
6. BfB’s Board:
Alan Halsall (Co-Chairman) – Chairman, Silver Cross, John Mills (Co-Chairman)
– Chairman and Founder, JML, Daniel Hodson (Honorary Treasurer) – Former
CEO, LIFFE, Matthew Elliott (Chief Executive) – Founder, TaxPayers’ Alliance,
Neville Baxter – Director, RH Development, Harriet Bridgeman – Founder, The
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Bridgeman Art Library, Dr Peter Cruddas – Chief Executive, CMC Markets,
Robert Hiscox – Honorary President, Hiscox Ltd, John Hoerner – Former CEO,
Tesco Central European Clothing, Brian Kingham – Chairman, Reliance Security
Group, Jon Moynihan – Former Executive Chairman, PA Consulting
6. BfB’s Advisory Council:
Below is a selection of names from BfB’s Advisory Council. A full list is available
here: www.businessforbritain.org/advisorycouncil
Lord Bell, BPP Communications (Chairman), Roger Bootle, Capital Economics
(Founder and MD), David Buik, Panmure Gordon & Co (Market Commentator), Sir
Rocco Forte, The Rocco Forte Collection (Executive Chairman), Oliver Hemsley,
Numis Securities (CEO), Sir Michael Hintze, CQS Management Ltd (Chairman)
Luke Johnson, Patisserie Valerie (Chairman), Lord Kalms, Dixons Retail Plc
(President), Sir Christopher Meyer, former Ambassador to the U.S., Helena
Morrissey, Newton Investment Management (CEO), Charlie Mullins, Pimlico
Plumbers (Founder and MD).
7. A selection of the original 500 signatories to the campaign include (in a
personal capacity): John Caudwell, Phones4u (Founder); John Clement,
Littlewoods (Chairman); John Freida, John Freida (Founder); Peter Goldstein,
Superdrug (Co-founder); Lord Harris, Carpetright PLC (Chairman); Nick Jenkins,
Moonpig.com (Founder); Lord Rose, Marks & Spencer (Former Chairman); Peter
Simon, Monsoon (Founder); Nicko Williamson, Bounce (CEO & Co-founder);
Lord Wolfson, Next plc (Chief Executive).
8. A selection of the latest 500 signatories to the campaign include (in a
personal capacity): Henry Angest, Arbuthnot Banking Group (Chairman & CEO);
Nigel Baxter, RH Commercial Vehicles (Managing Director); Peter Beckwith,
PMB Holdings (Chairman); Peter Chesterfield, Wessex Asset Management
(Former Executive Chairman); Harry Darrell-Brown, Merrill Lynch (Director); Ben
Elliot, Quintessentially (Founding Director); Will Hobhouse, Heal’s (Chairman);
James Lambert OBE, Burton's Biscuits (Chairman); Robert Macdonald, Prime
People PLC (Chairman); Neil MacKinnon, The ECU Group PLC (Global Macro
Strategy Adviser); Lars Seier Christensen, Saxo Bank (Co-founder & CEO); Sir
Michael Hintze AM, CQS Management (Chairman); and Peter Kane, UK Mail
Group PLC (Chairman).
See more at www.businessforbritain.org or follow us on twitter @forbritain
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