Sir James Dyson calls for the UK to leave the EU Single Market
Sir James Dyson has urged Prime Minister Theresa May to take the UK out of the European Union Single Market, even if that leads to an end of free trade and free movement of labour.
The intervention comes despite warnings from economists that leaving the Single Market could cost the UK billions of pounds a year.
But Dyson, who had been a vocal supporter of the Leave camp, told the BBC yesterday that the UK "should be absolutely out" of the Single Market.
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He added that this would give Britain freedom to determine its future and its own laws, as well as trade deals with other countries.
Think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies last month put the cost of Britain losing its membership to the EU Single Market at £75bn in today's money, or four per cent of gross domestic product by 2030.
The figure was based on long-term estimates from other forecasters, including the London School of Economic's Centre for Economic Performance and the National Institute for Economic and Social Research.
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"The last thing they are going to do is impose an import duty — it is suicidal for them [the EU]," Dyson said.
"I am not worried about that at all. We get on very well with Europe, we export to Europe and it is 16 per cent of our [Dyson's] global market. Europe is 15 per cent of general trade throughout the world, so we are quite nicely balanced.
"There are very exciting markets outside of Europe — the Far East is expanding at a phenomenal rate."