EU referendum: Stuart Rose and other UK business leaders stress trading benefits of remaining in Europe

A consortium of more than 50 female business leaders also spoke out against a British exit

Stuart Rose said that the single market benefits firms because they can trade ‘tariff-free’ across Europe (PA)

The retail guru Stuart Rose was among a number of prominent UK business figures who have stressed their belief in the importance of sticking with the European Union.

Britain Stronger in Europe, the pro-EU group chaired by Lord Rose, the former chief executive of Marks & Spencer, argued that the EU brings an additional £670,000 a year for the average British business importing or exporting goods within the bloc.

A report by the campaign group also flagged up that the UK’s trade in goods with the EU was 55 per cent higher as a result of the single market.

“British businesses are stronger in Europe,” Lord Rose said. “Leaving would be a leap into the dark.” He added that the single market “benefits firms big and small because they can trade tariff-free with a common set of regulations across the whole of Europe”.

A consortium of more than 50 female business leaders also spoke out against a British exit, or “Brexit”, urging Britons to vote to stay in the EU. Baroness Brady, the vice-chairman of West Ham Football Club, Baroness Lane-Fox, the founder of travel website lastminute.com, and the designer Kelly Hoppen were among the women who signed an open letter to The Independent’s sister paper, the London Evening Standard.

“Too often, women’s voices aren’t front and centre of political debate. But this referendum is going to be different. We ’re setting up a network to spread the word about the benefits of our membership of the EU and to make it clear we cannot take risks with the future of our country,” the letter said.

Baroness Lane-Fox warned that an exit “would be a disaster for the next generation of Britain’s entrepreneurs”. Baroness Brady told the Standard: “For women in particular, there are things we take for granted like paid maternity leave and rules on equal pay that exist thanks to Britain’s place in the EU.”

The latest opposition to Brexit follows a wave of businesses and industries that have also spoken out this month against an exit. A handful of pharmaceutical executives have warned that exit could isolate a number of the UK’s scientists, while a referendum vote to leave the EU would pose a serious challenge for the UK property market, according to the real estate consultancy Carter Jonas.

However, the warnings came at the same time as research from the think-tank Civitas claimed UK exports growth in the single market years was 22.3 per cent lower than it would have been had it continued at its rate during the 1973-1992 common market. Allie Renison, head of trade and EU policy at the Institute of Directors, was not convinced that big numbers would sway business leaders’ opinions about a Brexit.

She said: “Individual firms will need to weigh up what membership of the EU means to their operations and examine at the highest levels how the referendum outcome could affect their business.”