Britain faces disaster if it leaves the EU, Standard Life boss warns
CITY grandee Sir Gerry Grimstone called on finance firms to “devote all our energy” to keeping Britain in the EU, in a speech yesterday.
The chairman of Standard Life and TheCityUK said anyone could want to leave the trading bloc – a prospect which has been raised by the Prime Minister’s promise to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with Brussels, and to put the result to a referendum in 2017.
“It is very clear the UK will not join the Eurozone, but the single market is vital to the UK. I think it would be disasterous for London and the UK, if the UK was to leave the single market,” he told an international audience at the City Week conference.
“Why on earth would we not want to be part of one of the largest markets in the world? I think our whole energy should be devoted to that.”
The veteran chairman said the UK should wish the Eurozone well in its efforts to return to stability and growth, and focus directly on increasing free trade and on liberalising markets.