Business for Britain
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Part of the Powerbase Brexit Portal. |
Business for Britain was a eurosceptic lobby group which campaigned around the renegotiation of Britain's relationship with the European Union.
It was established in 2013 by Matthew Elliott and has been described as a 'Leave campaign in utero'.[1]
Activities
The objective of the campaign is summarised in a statement that over 500 business leaders signed when the campaign launched in April 2013, and has since attracted the signatures of over 250 more UK business people: “As business leaders and entrepreneurs responsible for millions of British jobs, we believe that the Government is right to seek a new deal for the EU and for the UK’s role in Europe. We believe that, far from being a threat to our economic interests, a flexible, competitive Europe, with more powers devolved from Brussels, is essential for growth, jobs and access to markets. We therefore urge all political parties to join in committing themselves to a national drive to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership of the EU.”
People
- Matthew Elliott, founder CEO
- Dylan Sharpe - Campaign director, previously head of press on the No2AV campaign, campaign director at Big Brother Watch, head of media at The Countryside Alliance and was a press officer on Boris Johnson’s 2008 London mayoral campaign. Has also worked for lobbying consultancies such as Pagefield. Joined the Sun newspaper as head of PR from April 2014. [2]
- Lee Rotherham - adviser, who also works for MP John Hayes. [3]
- Robert Oxley, who went on to work for Vote Leave and as a special adviser in mid-2016 to Priti Patel, while she was secretary of state at the Department for International Development before she was forced to resign over her failure to declare meetings with Israeli officials while on holiday in Israel in the summer of 2017
Signatories
See: http://businessforbritain.org/signatories/
Funding
According to its website:
- Business for Britain is funded through the kind donations of its business supporters. Over the coming months we will be launching Regional Councils across the United Kingdom, promoting ideas for how renegotiation could proceed and bringing together wealth and job creators across the country to campaign for a better deal for Britain in the EU.
Contact
- Website: http://businessforbritain.org (no longer live)
Resources
Notes
- ↑ The Brexit odd squad, New Statesman, 30 May 2016
- ↑ Jonathan Tilley, Campaigner Dylan Sharpe joins The Sun as head of PR, prweek.com, 21 March 2014, acc March 2014
- ↑ REGISTER OF INTERESTS OF MEMBERS’ SECRETARIES AND RESEARCH ASSISTANTS (As at 10 July 2015)
