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Brexit: Cobra beer founder Lord Karan Bilimoria says EU withdrawal might not happen

Giving Britons the opportunity to vote on something so complex is 'ridiculous' the British-Indian entrepreneur said

Josie Cox
Business News
Wednesday 21 June 2017 10:23 BST
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Lord Bilimoria said that Prime Minister Theresa May had lost all credibility
Lord Bilimoria said that Prime Minister Theresa May had lost all credibility

The co-founder of Cobra beer has said that he does not think that Britain will end up leaving the EU, once people become aware of the full impact a split will have on business and the economy.

Lord Karan Bilimoria, a British-Indian entrepreneur and a staunch remainer, told LBC radio’s Iain Dale that last June’s referendum should “never have happened” because the issues around departing the EU are “so complicated”.

He said that giving Britons the opportunity to vote on something so complex was “ridiculous” and that the outcome had made the UK the “laughing stock” of both Europe and the World.

He said that recent political developments in the UK had given those who oppose a hard Brexit a voice and that it is now no longer a case of Britain being unable to turn back.

“There is turning back, absolutely,” he said. “We can right now today say that we don’t want to do Brexit […] and Brexit doesn’t happen.”

He also said that Prime Minister Theresa May had lost all credibility in recent weeks.

“I don’t know how much longer she’s going to be around for.”

Lord Bilimoria’s comments echo similar remarks made by George Soros earlier this week.

The billionaire who earned fame by betting against the pound in 1992 said Britain was approaching a tipping point that would see the economy slow to such an extent that Brexit might even be reversed.

“The fact is that Brexit is a lose-lose proposition, harmful both to Britain and the European Union. It cannot be undone, but people can change their minds,” Reuters cited Mr Soros as saying.

On Tuesday, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney underscored that, in the Bank's view, Brexit will make Britain worse off than otherwise.

At his Mansion House speech Mr Carney said that “weaker real income growth [is] likely to accompany the transition to new trading arrangements with the EU”.

That assumption was already embedded in the Bank's latest official forecasts, which showed the level of UK GDP in 2019 relative to its pre-June referendum forecasts lower by around 1.5 per cent, or £30bn in today's money.

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