Bloomberg Voices Concerns Over Possible Damage From Brexit

Former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg has warned that Britain’s economy would be harmed should the UK exit the European Union (EU).

The billionaire made it clear that he was not preaching to the British voters but since he had a significant stake in the country, he wanted to outline what the exit would mean for his company, workforce and America as a whole.

Bloomberg’s company employs 4,000 people in the UK and is building two large centres in London to act as its European headquarters.

In a statement, Bloomberg said

I just think that the UK would be disadvantaged compared to the situation they are now. They have a special relationship with the rest of the EU. They have the borders that they can control, unlike the rest of the EU. They have a trade surplus with the rest of the EU. They have some abilities to influence the dialogue that without which they would, and America – which is my concern – would not benefit.

He added that it would be very difficult for the UK to make an exit and then try and negotiate a deal that would give the UK the same benefits as it receives now. He said that EU would have no incentive to favor Britain once it leaves the Union.

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Bloomberg is one of the senior business leaders representing major corporations who have written a letter to The Times to express their concerns and highlight the disadvantages of exiting the EU. The letter’s signatories included large corporations such as Mars, Hitachi, Airbus, Cisco, Caterpillar, IBM, Microsoft and Ford.

The letter states that investors do not like economic uncertainty and Brexit would cause a massive shock to the country’s economy which would impact job certainty, foreign investment and economic growth which has been already pointed out by key institutions such as the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund and the London School of Economics.

Some of these business leaders were recently hosted by the British PM David Cameron for a round table discussion. Responding to the question as to whether the letter was prompted by Cameron, a spokesperson for the prime minster said that the business heads were only adding their name to a list of business leaders that have already declared that leaving the UK would be harmful to the economy and their businesses.

Charlie Harrison

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