Bosses Told To Warn Workers Of Brexit Risks

Britain's leading business group is using employers to warn hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK of the risks of Brexit, Sky News has learned.

Dozens of businesses - from Siemens (BSE: SIEMENS4.BO - news) to BT and Airbus - have written to employees explaining why their bosses want to remain part of Europe in a bid to swing the vote in favour of David Cameron's government on 23 June.

The business lobby told Sky News that the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) members employing over 800,000 workers have talked to staff about the implications of Brexit - and it expects more employers to engage with staff in the final weeks of the campaign.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, insisted the initiative was "not about telling people how to vote" but rather a move by "responsible business leaders" to explain to staff "what impact a Brexit would have on company growth, their jobs and their communities".

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Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom, who backs Brexit, said bosses did not know what was in the "interests of their staff" and should not present them with a "one-sided argument".

She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) told Sky News the Treasury Select Committee had recently heard evidence leaving the EU could push wages up for British workers and "British workers would be delighted to see their pay going up".

And added: "So I think to give a kind of one-sided argument to workers because it's in the interests of bosses is actually very damaging."

Revelations of chief executives' involvement in an extensive ground war is likely to further fan tensions between Vote Leave and No 10, which hit new lows on Monday night after the Brexit campaign accused the Prime Minister and Downing Street of "doing deals with businesses ... to help them buy the referendum and save their jobs".

The outspoken attack on Mr Cameron came after the Vote Leave campaign got hold of a leaked letter between the chief executive of Serco, the outsourcing firm which has multi billion-pound contracts with the Government, and the Prime Minister on the matter of mobilising the pro-EU business voice ahead of the referendum.

Rupert Soames, Serco's chief executive, discusses how to "mobilise corporates to look carefully at the risks Brexit represents" and persuade Britain's 500 biggest firms to include Brexit in the risk sections of annual reports due to be published before the referendum date.

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He then goes on to lobby for his own business interests - expounding the case for privatising more prisons.

Boris Johnson described it as the "biggest stitch-up since the Bayeux Tapestry".

He said: "It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) stinks to high heaven. FTSE 100 chiefs are seeing their pay packets soar while uncontrolled immigration is forcing down wages for British workers.

"Now (NYSE: DNOW - news) we learn that some fat cats have been secretly agreeing to campaign for remain while angling for lavish Government contracts."

It comes as Microsoft CEO Michel Van der Bel wrote in a blog to workers that it was "our view that the UK should remain in the EU" and that was why the firm employed 5,000 people in the UK.

He said he was stating the firm's position in response to questions from employees, customers and partners.

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No 10 has made no secret of its plans to coordinate with business over the EU referendum.

It has been working with the CBI about making the case for remaining in the bloc for more than a year, with Daniel Korski, the Prime Minister's Europe adviser, leading these efforts.

The Government learned from the Scottish referendum in 2014 that it needed to co-ordinate efforts early.

And with just 330,000 votes between the winning and losing sides in that vote, getting around as many employees as possible over the next six weeks could prove instrumental to Mr Cameron's attempts to swing the EU vote his way.