100 MPs, 300 business leaders want UK out of EU

Around 100 UK parliamentarians and more than 300 business leaders have called for Britain to leave the EU in June’s referendum.

The MPs said they are even ready for a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister David Cameron if Britons choose to remain in the EU, Tory sources claimed.

Backbenchers, who are furious at how Cameron and his allies have conducted the referendum campaign, are contemplating calling for him to leave, even if he wins the June 23 vote by a marked margin.

Only 50 Tory MPs are enough to provoke a vote of no confidence in the prime minister and this is not unlikely as 150 Conservative parliamentarians are believed to support a Brexit.

Even though Cameron will most probably win a no confidence vote, meaning that he can continue as prime minister, the rebels may not allow government legislation to pass in the House of Commons unless Cameron steps down as earlier than 2019.

Meanwhile, more than 300 business chiefs wrote a joint letter, urging Britain to leave the EU, arguing its bureaucracy stifled companies' ability to grow.

In a letter published in the Telegraph, the business leaders said that Brussels’ “red tape stifles every one of Britain’s 5.4 million businesses,” claiming that a Brexit would let them “create more jobs”.

Among the signatories of the letter are Peter Goldstein, a founder of Superdrug, Steve Dowdle, the former vice president at technology firm Sony, David Sismey, an MD of Goldman Sachs and Sir Patrick Sheehy, the former chairman of British American Tobacco.

Also, hundreds of people linked to small and medium-sized businesses signed the letter, which appears to be an attempt to redress the balance following warnings by the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund that a Brexit would damage the UK’s economy.

“Year-on-year the EU buys less from Britain because its economies are stagnant and millions of workers are unemployed. According to Mervyn King, the former Bank of England Governor, the Euro ‘might explode’,” the letter reads.

“It is business - not government - which generates wealth for the Treasury and jobs for our communities. Outside the EU, British business will be free to grow faster, expand into new markets and create more jobs. It's time to Vote Leave and take back control.”

Cameron’s campaign contend that it can win the June vote through focusing on the risks a Brexit could post to the country’s overall economy.

“Brexit could cost Britain major funding such as the £16 billion invested into infrastructure projects by the European Investment Bank over the past three years,” said Cameron, addressing pro-EU supporters in a campaign event in central England on Saturday.

The economy and the impact of a possible British exit on jobs, wages and trade are a key battleground for both the "In" and "Out" campaigns before Britons cast their votes.

The “In” campaign, those in favor of remaining in the bloc, argues that leaving EU would risk the UK's prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU.

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