British business leader urges early EU referendum

THREE months before a general election which could help decide Britain’s future in Europe, a business leader Tuesday urged a referendum on EU membership next year, regardless of who takes power.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union by the end of 2017 if his Conservatives, currently leading a coalition government, win on May 7.

Ed Miliband’s main opposition Labour party, currently polling virtually neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, is committed to staying in the EU and does not plan to hold a referendum if it takes office.

Now the director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, an umbrella organisation representing 52 local business associations around the country, has called for a referendum by May 2016 whatever happens to clarify the situation.

“We need to bring the referendum date forward because two and a half years of uncertainty isn’t good for growth and investment,” John Longworth told the BBC.

“It should be no more than 12 months after the general election.”

Cameron has previously indicated he could hold a referendum earlier than 2017 if his plans to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Europe beforehand went according to plan.

This week’s Sunday Times cited officials saying that Downing Street was preparing for a possible 2016 referendum.

Labour’s finance spokesman Ed Balls was set to warn in a speech Tuesday that leaving Europe, Britain’s biggest trading market, would be “the biggest risk to our economy in the next decade”.