Debunking the great “Brexit will lead to lost British jobs” lie – Part 1

(Apologies to those of you who read this yesterday. But I’d like to leave this post up for just one more day. The reason is I think it’s worrying that, as far as I know, not a single mainstream journalist has bothered to get hold of the 2003 letter from Britain’s business leaders warning of the ‘terrible’ consequences of not joining the Euro and not a single mainstream journalist has pointed out that we’re getting almost exactly the same warnings in almost exactly the same language from almost exactly the same companies about the ‘terrible’ consequences of leaving the corrupt, undemocratic, increasingly *sl*mified EU. I will do Part 2 of this post tomorrow, Saturday 27 February)

We all now know that, as Cameron didn’t get any concessions from his EU bosses that he can try to sell to us, he’s forced to move to Plan B to keep us in his beloved EU. Plan B is, of course, Project Fear – try to frighten people into voting to stay by claiming two things:

• Brexit will lead to thousands of British job losses
• Brexit will harm Britain’s security

To help with the first part of Project Fear – the supposed job losses – Cameron has got a bunch of his business cronies to sign a letter in the Times this week warning of the dangers of Brexit. Here are a couple of points about this week’s letter all these great business leaders have signed:

• the letter was drafted by a civil servant and signed by the business bosses long before we knew how little Cameron would achieve in his negotiation charade
• only 36 of the FTSE 100 companies have signed, which suggests that 64% don’t believe Brexit represents any threat to jobs.

But before I try to show (tomorrow) that the supposed threat to jobs is the usual Cameron bunch of lies, I’d just like to remind readers what Britain’s great business leaders wrote in 2003 when they insisted we should join the Euro and compare that to what they wrote a couple of days ago. Here’s their letter from 2003 about the ‘need’ to abandon the pound and join the Euro:

Dear Mr Blair

We are writing to make clear our concerns about the implications for business if the Government rules out membership of the euro for the lifetime of this parliament. Such a decision would be damaging for British-based businesses, British employees and the British economy as a whole.

Since the Chancellor’s statement on the euro in October 1997, the working assumption of business has been that Britain is a ‘pre-entry’ country. If it becomes apparent that this is no longer the case, the Government must be aware that this will constitute a significant change in the business climate of this country. Although in many respects, Britain is a good place to do business; non-membership of the euro is damaging that position.

Inward investment in Britain has already fallen substantially. According to the United Nations, Britain attracted 29% of foreign direct investment in the EU over the 20 years to 1999. But since the launch of the euro in that year, the share has fallen to 16%. The UN estimates that it collapsed to 5% in 2002.

By removing the barriers of separate currencies, the creation of the euro has led to a rapid increase in cross-border trade in the euro-zone. Germany’s trade with the EU has leapt from 27% of national output in 1998 to 32% in 2001. France’s trade with the EU has risen from 28% of GDP to 31%. Overall, the average rise in euro-zone countries is 3 percentage points. Meanwhile, Britain’s trade with Europe has stagnated.

The weight of independent economic evidence suggests that the conditions for entry are right. Commercial reality strongly dictates that the risks of staying outside the euro far outweigh any risks of joining. The European single market has moved on and we are no longer full members. We hope that the Government will have the courage of its convictions and recognise that membership of the euro is in our long-term national interest. To do otherwise would have serious consequences for Britain’s future prosperity.

Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, Chair, Britain in Europe.

Nicholas Brookes*, Chief Executive, Spirent.

Martin Broughton, Chairman, British American Tobacco.

Dinesh Dhamija, Chairman, ebookers.

Vernon Ellis*, International Chair, Accenture.

Sir Richard Evans, Chairman, BAE Systems.

Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Unilever.

Sir Chris Gent*, Chief Executive, Vodafone Group.

Robert Guy, Adviser to the Board, N.M. Rothschild & Sons; Chair, The City in Europe.

Lord Hollick, CEO, United Business Media.

Johannes Huth, Managing Director, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Sir Michael Jenkins*, President, Boeing UK.

David Jordan, Chairman & Managing Director, Philips Electronics UK.

The Rt. Hon Sir Richard Needham, Deputy Chair, Dyson; Vice Chair, NEC (Europe).

Anthony Nelson*, Vice Chairman, Citigroup; Chair, Gateway to London.

Sir Bryan Nicholson, former President, CBI 1994-96.

Sir Gulam Noon, Chairman & Managing Director, Noon Products.

John Porter, Chairman, Telos Group.

Mike Rake*, International Chairman, KPMG.

Sir Nick Scheele, President and Chief Operating Officer, Ford Motor Company.

Lord Simon of Highbury, former Chairman, BP; Vice-Chair, Britain in Europe.

Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive, WPP Group.

Peter Sutherland*, former Director General, World Trade Organisation.

John Travers*, Senior Partner, Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker.

Robert van der Merwe, Group President, Kimberly-Clark (Europe).

Alan Wood, Chief Executive, Siemens.

*signing in a personal capacity

And here’s the letter from the Times this week about the need to stay in the EU

Sir, The businesses we lead represent every sector and region of the UK. Together we employ hundreds of thousands of people across the country. Following the prime minister’s renegotiation, we believe that Britain is better off staying in a reformed European Union. He has secured a commitment from the EU to reduce the burden of regulation, deepen the single market and to sign off crucial international trade deals.

Business needs unrestricted access to the European market of 500 million people in order to continue to grow, invest and create jobs. We believe that leaving the EU would deter investment, threaten jobs and put the economy at risk. Britain will be stronger, safer and better off remaining a member of the EU.

Just look at the last line of the first paragraph of the 2003 letter – “Such a decision would be damaging for British-based businesses, British employees and the British economy as a whole”  Now a line from this week’s letter – “We believe that leaving the EU would deter investment, threaten jobs and put the economy at risk”.

Yup, 13 years ago they told us not joining the Euro would damage British business and British jobs and this week in the Times they’re claiming exactly the same thing in almost exactly the same language.

Also look at another line from this week’s letter – “Following the prime minister’s renegotiation, we believe that Britain is better off staying in a reformed European Union”. But hold on, Cameron’s negotiations achieved nothing and the EU has not been reformed at all.

I find it ‘strange’ that no mainstream journalist has picked up on these points. I find it also strange that none of the signatories of the 2003 letter have apologised to us and admitted they were wrong.

They were wrong then and they’re wrong now.

Vote Leave!