Labour’s mixed message on EU has business leaders divided
ED MILIBAND’S commitment to an in/out referendum on EU membership only if powers are transferred to Brussels has drawn a mixed response from business leaders and politicians.
The Confederation of British Industry praised Miliband for ending “uncertainty” over the decision to stay or leave the EU, but members of his own party said the policy announcement was a “shoddy compromise.”
“I think the public are very clear that they want a referendum. This is so ambiguous as to be impossible to sell on the doorstep,” warned Labour MP Graham Stringer.
President of the CBI Sir Mike Rake said: “The CBI strongly supports Ed Miliband’s view that we are better off in a reformed EU than outside with no influence.”
Meanwhile Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: “The EU has to change, and it makes sense to put such changes to the British people.”