The business boss suspended last week for backing a British EU exit has launched a devastating new broadside against the Government, accusing it of ‘peddling disaster’ ahead of the referendum.
Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce John Longworth threw a grenade into No 10, savaging it for joining the ‘hyperbole’ of the EU debate.
In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, he accused the Government of issuing exaggerated warnings akin to ‘plagues of boils’ if Britain quits the EU – which would trigger a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’.
Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce John Longworth, pictured, was suspended from his role at the BCC after making a controversial speech supporting Brexit
And he slammed David Cameron’s reform negotiations. ‘Once the Prime Minister had come back with his deal, that was the final nail in the coffin,’ he declared.
Longworth spoke to this newspaper soon after finishing his controversial Brexit speech – and while Chancellor George Osborne took to the same conference stage to preach the benefits of Britain’s EU membership.
A little over 24 hours later, Longworth was suspended from his role at the BCC.
Mayor of London and Brexit Campaigner Boris Johnson said this weekend that Longworth was the victim of ‘an establishment plot’.
But while the boss’s speech to the BCC’s annual conference has already sparked a political storm, his words to The Mail on Sunday are even more explosive.
He rubbished ‘ludicrous’ claims that food would cost more if we leave the EU, saying the opposite was true.
‘The price of food virtually doubled in the UK in 1973 when we joined the EEC,’ he noted.
And he said his extensive research led him to believe Britain had ‘not got a good deal’ in Europe. ‘There’s layer upon layer upon layer of legislation from Brussels that is actually costing us billions,’ he added.
Remarkably, no one at the BCC yesterday would comment on the row. The organisation has officially adopted a neutral position, and polls of its members show 60 per cent in favour of staying in, with 30 per cent in favour of leaving.
But even as Longworth gave the interview, unease was evidently growing among top BCC figures.
On Friday it held an emergency meeting of its 11-strong board and decided to suspend Longworth. It is not known if he himself attended the crisis meeting.
Mr Longworth, pictured, accused the 'In' campaign of exaggerating warnings over Brexit akin to forecasting 'a plague of boils' should Britain leave the EU
Yesterday both Dr Adam Marshall, the BCC’s executive director of policy and external affairs, and Greg Watkins, a non-executive director, declined to comment. The other eight board members either did not return requests for comment or could not be reached.
But Matthew Elliott, of the campaign group Vote Leave, said: ‘[John Longworth] made it clear he was speaking in a personal capacity – as many others will do throughout this debate.
This is the most important debate for 40 years and everyone should be able to speak their mind without fear of retribution.’
Emma Jones, founder of rival business trade group Enterprise Nation, said: ‘As head of British Chambers, it was John’s responsibility to speak on behalf of members.
‘He clearly expressed a personal opinion – and a position with which many of his members were not in agreement.
His suspension is a result of that. When speaking on member platforms, the role should be to speak on behalf of members and to represent their view.’
'Plague of boils'? It's hyperbole - and wrong: Interview with John Longworth
It was a bombshell speech on Europe that sparked a political storm and led to the suspension of one of Britain’s top business chiefs.
When John Longworth, the Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce – an organisation that had vowed to remain neutral – gave his frank views calling for Britain to exit the EU, he found himself mired in controversy.
But soon after delivering his extraordinary speech, and before being hounded from his job and going to ground, he gave an astonishing interview to The Mail on Sunday in which his comments were even more explosive.
Mr Longworth said he finds the Government's handling of the EU debate 'frustrating and hyperbolic'
In a remarkably frank and at times hilarious exchange, Longworth revealed the full and forthright views that are expected to spark an even bigger furore. In it, he said:
- Britain has no influence in the EU, would have a ‘bright’ future away from it – and he rails against the Government for telling the public how to vote with ‘Plagues of Boils’ language;
- Brussels is only waiting until the day after Britain’s vote on June 23 to churn out yet more legislation;
- Food will be cheaper if we leave, a sterling fall would boost profits, and we would have more to spend on the NHS
- Young people don’t realise the benefits that could be had from an independent Britain because, like the Keanu Reeves blockbuster movie, they are ‘caught in the Matrix’ where they have never known anything else.
A clearly exasperated Longworth strikes a direct blow at the Government over its handling of the EU debate.
‘I find it quite frustrating,’ he says. ‘It’s all very well for the In campaign and the Out campaign to argue all sorts of hyperbole, but for the Government to be doing it is highly questionable.
‘Because if the Government continues to peddle “disaster, disaster, disaster”, you know “plagues of locusts”, “plagues of boils”, “it will rain forever if we leave” right up until the day of the vote, what happens if we DO vote to leave?
'They can’t then turn around and say to the stock markets or the currency dealers, “Oh, we didn’t mean it at all ok?”.
‘If they’re not careful the Government will create a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is very dangerous for the country.’
And the plain-speaking Longworth has an equally devastating verdict on the Prime Minister’s efforts to renegotiate the term of our EU membership.
‘My view is we could have a brighter future outside, just as we would have had a bright future inside had we been able to get the EU to achieve meaningful reforms.
'But I’ve come to the conclusion that it is just incapable of meaningful reform.
‘Once the Prime Minister came back with his deal, it was the final nail in the coffin. The truth is we are one in 28 countries.
'We have something like 12 per cent of the voting. We are always going to be outvoted. We haven’t won a vote in 20 years. We have no influence.’
Longworth, 57, isn’t speaking off the cuff. He has spent the last three years researching the effect on Britain if it were to leave Europe.
‘I have lived and breathed this issue,’ he says. ‘I’ve spent a lot of time looking at economic reports, consulting with countries that we trade with within and outside Europe, with economists, think tanks, the Bank of England.
'And the accumulated wisdom of those conversations has led me to the view that we’ve not got a good deal.
‘There’s layer upon layer upon layer of legislation from Brussels that is actually costing us billions.
'There may even be a case that we will be worse off if we stay in the EU without joining the eurozone.
'As it consolidates, it will leave countries that are not in the eurozone on the margins. Britain will be one of those countries.
OSBORNE WITH GERMAN AT SAME CONFERENCE - THEN BOSS SUSPENDED
George Osborne shared a smile with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on the BCC conference stage.
But as they preached the benefits of our EU membership, BCC boss John Longworth was delivering his attack on the Government’s handling of the EU issue to The Mail on Sunday.
Chancellor George Osborne pictured with German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble at the conference
‘So if we’re in that position in ten or 15 years’ time, then everything that’s being said about our position out of the EU will apply to us IN it.
'We won’t have access to decision-making, but we’ll have to pay into a budget. We’ll have to apply free movement of people, but we’ll have no say.
‘The difference is if we’re IN we’ll have no freedom and latitude to do anything else. If we’re OUT we can negotiate our own trade deals, we can reduce regulation and red tape, and we can actually save money because of the debt contribution to the EU.
‘Of course, if we leave then our future will be determined by whether we get a good negotiated deal with the EU after leaving.
'Well, the chances are that we will. We are Germany’s biggest export market. They’re hardly likely to want to stop selling us stuff.’
While we talk, shortly after Longworth’s platform speech, shock among some BCC members is already filtering around the hall.
Longworth is accompanied by a press minder, unusual for the outspoken director general, who is entirely comfortable speaking one-to-one. The press officer is listening intently. Longworth presses on.
‘We at the BCC used to track all European legislation. We stopped doing that in 2010 because nobody was listening.
At that point the cost to UK business was estimated to be £80 billion per year. Since then we’ve had all sorts of stuff that’s added costs to business like the Agency Workers Directive and rules around the Working Time Directive. This is bureaucratic record-keeping, nothing to do with safety.’
Longworth’s complaints about the EU are based on decades of business experience, he says. ‘I’ve been going to Brussels for 30 years and watching it very closely the whole period.
Brussels always measures the legislation cost not by the cost to the economy and business, but by the cost to the European Commission.
‘They didn’t pay any attention whatsoever to what was actually happening to businesses and the economy.’
That experience also helps explain why the opinion polls so often show the younger generation is in favour of straying in the EU while older voters are more sceptical.
And Longworth conjures a contemporary film reference to make his point.
‘In a sense the younger people are at one with The Matrix, you know, they’re born knowing nothing else. It’s almost as though they’re trapped in The Matrix because that’s where they were born.
‘Older people can remember what it was like before. The price of food virtually doubled in the UK in 1973 when we joined the EEC. If we left, food prices would definitely drop. The idea that food would become more expensive is ludicrous.’
The BCC conference had already heard Business Secretary Sajid Javid outline the Government’s latest proposals for cutting bureaucracy – music to Longworth’s ears.
‘I sat on Mrs Thatcher’s deregulation task force. But that and everything any government has done since has never achieved any meaningful reduction of red tape – partly because Whitehall always frustrates it.
'It was classic Yes Minister. I think there were 400 regulations that went under Thatcher.
'They were things like the coat hooks regulations 1885 which had been introduced to stop fleas jumping from one bloke’s coat to another. Just ludicrous stuff.’
Perhaps most shockingly of all, Longworth believes the Brussels bureaucrats may be conspiring to help the Government win the referendum.
‘I would say that the EU is waiting for the 23rd of June before it starts to churn out more legislation.’
As we talk, Chancellor George Osborne and Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schauble are finishing their session after taking questions from the audience in the main conference hall.
Longworth had listened closely to Schauble’s earlier comments to the delegates and believes the notoriously tough-talking German and indeed Osborne had given the game away about whose interests are really best served by Britain staying in.
‘The main point that was being made, and also interestingly made by our own Chancellor, was that it is in the interests of the EU that Britain stays in. I did not hear a great deal about what was in the interests of the UK, however.’
Critics of the Brexit campaigners often insinuate that ‘outers’ are knee-jerk fanatics, but Longworth argues that his view is based on a balance of the facts
‘There will be short-term disruption, there’s no use ducking that issue.
‘But are we prepared to bear that short-term disruption for the bright future? That’s the real question.’
‘The worst-case scenario if we left is that the EU applied all of the tariffs they now apply to other foreign countries.
'The current drop in the value of our currency has already compensated us for most of those tariffs overnight.
‘So our goods now are going to be as cheap as they would have been before the application of the tariff.
‘And even in the worst-cased scenario you could probably take half of our contribution to the EU and use it to compensate every company that’s affected by any tariffs.
'You could still use the other half of the contribution to pay for things like schools and healthcare.’
So what about the risks of staying in? On this, Longworth warms to his theme.
‘If the eurozone consolidates it really will look like a state with economic and financial control.
'We’ve already seen the exercise of that control by European central bankers who have gone into countries like Greece and effectively dictated to them what economic policy they should apply.’
And the risks to Britain’s own exporters?
‘There are lots of things that simply won’t change. Yes companies will have to meet EU standards if they want to export to the EU.
'But they have to meet American standards if they want to export to America, and Chinese standards if they want to export to China.’
And with that, Longworth’s tirade draws to a close. If some delegates at the conference were angered by his platform speech, they would have been apoplectic at this.
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét