Brexit: UK should make a 'clean break' from the EU, says James Dyson

The billionaire has in the past said that he is 'enormously optimistic' about trading with the rest of the world after Brexit

A 'clean break' will be 'no big deal' (Rex)

Sir James Dyson has said that Britain should make a “clean break” from the EU and that any kind of transitional deal would just be “a muddle”.

Speaking to Sky News, the businessman and entrepreneur, who was a vocal supporter of Brexit, also said that a “clean break” would be “no big deal” and that if a transitional agreement was put in place it would just have to be replaced by another.

"Europe is a declining part of world trade," he told the broadcaster.

"It's now down to 12 per cent and in about five years' time it will be 9 per cent of world trade. The fastest growing sector is, of course, in the Far East, China and the far eastern countries where we're growing by about 80 per cent or 90 per cent a year. That's where the opportunities are - not Europe."

The billionaire has in the past said that he is “enormously optimistic" about trading with the rest of the world after Brexit but in Thursday’s interview he did emphasise the need for continued access to talent and said that there was a shortage of engineers in Britain.

As a result of this concern, his eponymous company, famous for its high-end hoovers and hand dryers, has announced that is creating a university on the site of Dyson's massive Wiltshire-based campus.

"It's blindingly obvious that we need to take on more engineers, and if people study here then they'll be learning from some of the best in the world,” Sir James said.

In February, Dyson announced that it was opening a new 517-acre site close to its Malmesbury headquarters, which will increase the group's footprint in the UK by tenfold.

A spokeswoman for Dyson at the time said that over the longer term, the group aims to double its UK workforce.

Over the past five years it’s already more than tripled its UK head count and currently employs around 3,500 people in the country, half of whom are engineers and scientists.