Charlie, founder and managing director of Pimlico Plumbers, the UK’s largest independent plumbing and home services company and Business matters columnist, was a member of the Business for Britain Advisory Committee, which provided the organisation with in-depth knowledge of specific business sectors.
However, Mr Mullins does not support the organisation’s new mandate to campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
Charlie said: “I find myself unable to support Business For Britain due to a direct conflict with my core belief that the UK is, on balance, better off inside Europe than out.
“For all its faults, it’s the biggest single market in the world and, for me, that’s the clincher and if I’m being honest a complete ‘no-brainer’.
There are half a billion people in the EU and that makes up the largest economy in the world. So why would you risk making it harder to get our goods to all of those customers?”
Charlie added: “Yes, we do need to get a better deal out of Europe for the UK, but special treatment for Britain is something that we have always managed to win, and I can’t see why we, and David Cameron, won’t win out again by achieving this.
“After all, we have a pretty decent track record, having retained the pound and our border checkpoints, won rebates and avoided bailouts. That’s why I’m sticking with David Cameron, Lord Rose, and even Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to back Britain by backing Britain’s staying in the EU. And I’m certain that come referendum day people will see that the benefits of remaining far outweigh the reasons to leave.”
“Given that the moment for greater European political union has well and truly passed, even the French and Germans have given up on that one, I think it’s almost Britain’s duty to stay and fight for the union’s economic value, while slowly dismantling the Brussels bureaucracy.”
