Brexit’s business supporters speak out as the Clunking Fist hits the road

Recent polling is looking encouraging for the “leave” campaign and one significant boost is that some people, although concerned about the economic impact of of Brexit,  still want us to leave.

However, three significant businessmen have expressed their support for Brexit. Sir James Dyson put it bluntly:- “When the Remain campaign tells us no one will trade with us if we leave the EU, sorry, it’s absolute cobblers. Our trade imbalance with Europe is running at nine billion a month and rising. If this trend continues, that is £100bn a year.”

Equally forthright is Lord Bamford of JCB. He sent the letter below to all his staff. “Do I wish to remain in an EU of diminishing importance as it moves towards ever-closer union? Or do I want us to pull out of the EU, reclaim our sovereignty and regain control of how we trade with Europe and the world?” he asks.

 A more unusual way of showing support for Brexit has come from Jeremy Hosking of Marathon Asset Management.  Mr Hosking, who has donated £500,000 to the leave campaign, owns 13 steam locomotives, 10 of which either already are or will eventually be registered to run on our main lines. Tomorrow,  the Referendum Express, hauled by No 46100 Royal Scot, owned by Mr Hosking, will run from Crewe to York. On board will be a number of well-known Brexit campaigners and if you want to wave them on their way, the timings for tomorrow’s run, which is routed via Warrington, Accrington and Hebden Bridge, can be found here.

It is unfortunate that the aptly-named Britannia (seen departing Salisbury in 2011 in the image above)  is currently under repair, but we can be confident that Royal Scot will not be emblazoned with any figures about how much we pay to the EU every week on the side of its boiler!

Talking of Scots, Gordon Brown has been invited by David Cameron to “relaunch” the remain campaign  – an admission of his failure to sell “Project Fear” to voters. Will the great Clunking Fist deliver the goods for Remain, just as he as credited with turning the Scottish independence referendum campaign round 18 months ago? He has never enjoyed much popularity south of the border and with good reason. After all, this was the man who raided our pension funds, wrecked our economy and was too ashamed to join in the public signing of the Lisbon Treaty after having refused to grant the electorate a referendum.  Thankfully, with such as CV, it is hard to imagine that he will prove any better an ambassador for the EU than his successor.