Business backs Mark Carney’s push for in/out EU referendum vote

Business leaders welcomed Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s comments yesterday, calling for the government to act with “appropriate speed” in pushing through an in/out referendum on Britain’s EU membership.

 

In a radio interview with the BBC, Carney said it was “in the interests of everybody” to answer questions surrounding the UK’s relationship with the EU, adding that an in/out vote should happen “as soon as necessary.”

 

“We talk to a lot of bosses and there has been an awareness of some of this political uncertainty, whether because of the election or because of the referendum,” Carney said.

 

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised an in/out referendum before the end of 2017, but it is widely understood Downing Street is considering moving up the date of the vote to as early as next May.

 

WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell told City A.M.that he would “most definitely” support a vote sooner rather than later, saying the “earlier the better to get the uncertainty out of the way, one way or the other.”

 

RLM Finsbury founder and chairman Roland Rudd, who also chairs the Business for New Europe campaign group, told City A.M. that an earlier referendum would help his organisation further its goal of Britain staying in a reformed EU.