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Cameron's Business Aides Split Over EU Letter

Nearly half of David Cameron's closest business advisers have declined to sign a letter backing the UK's membership of the European Union despite an "aggressive" push by In campaigners to corral last-ditch support from the private sector.

Sky News can reveal that nine of the 20 members of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group (BAG) - including the bosses of ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) , Land Securities (LSE: LAND.L - news) and Legal & General (LSE: LGEN.L - news) - were absent from the list of nearly 1,300 signatories on Wednesday.

The letter - published in The Times - did include representatives from more than half of Britain's biggest listed companies as well as prominent entrepreneurs such as Sir Richard Branson and major international investors in the UK.

However, the disclosure that almost half of the BAG's members declined to sign it is understood to have frustrated Downing Street officials with polls continuing to indicate that the referendum's outcome remains finely poised.

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The nine members of Mr Cameron's BAG who did not sign the letter were: Ana Botin, chairman of Santander; Jeff Fairburn, the CEO of housebuilder Persimmon; Liv Garfield, chief executive of Severn Trent (Other OTC: STRNY - news) ; the Chinese internet tycoon Jack Ma, who runs Alibaba Group; Robert Noel, Land Securities' boss; Simon Segars of ARM Holdings; Steve Varley, who runs the professional services firm EY; Steve Wadey, chief executive of the QinetiQ; and Nigel Wilson of Legal and General.

A source close to the process of gathering signatures for the letter pointed out that many of the nine executives have previously expressed pro-EU sentiments but that corporate policy dictated that they could not sign the letter.

However, a number of BAG members, such as the Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) chief executive Alison Brittain signed it in a personal capacity.

Alongside Ms Brittain, the BAG members who did sign the letter were: Eileen Burbidge, a partner at the technology investor Passion Capital; Asda boss Andy Clarke; Bob Dudley of BP; Warren East, who runs Rolls Royce (LSE: RR.L - news) ; Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive of Virgin Money; David Joseph, the Universal Music executive; Carolyn McCall, chief executive of EasyJet; John Nelson, who chairs Lloyd’s of London; Xavier Rolet, boss of the London Stock Exchange Group; and Paul Walsh, chairman of Compass Group (Other OTC: CMPGF - news) .

Ms Botin was not asked to sign the letter and two of her UK-based colleagues had signed instead, the source added, while Mr Ma had also not been sounded out about adding his name.

Mr Segars and Mr Noel are among those who have previously talked about the benefits of EU membership.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday, Mr Cameron acknowledged that it "can sometimes be frustrating that organisations feel constrained and say they can’t take sides or put their heads over the parapet”.

A source close to him suggested it was logical to assume that he was in part referring to some of his business advisers.

In the letter, the details of which were revealed by Sky News last week , business leaders warned that "leaving the EU would mean having to re-establish terms of trade from scratch with our home market of 500m consumers".

It went on to say that "smaller businesses and the people they employ are particularly vulnerable to any economic shock which could follow a vote to leave the EU", and that Brexit would "mean uncertainty for our firms, less trade with Europe and fewer jobs".

Some executives have complained that the letter says little that was not contained in a similar one published at the start of the referendum campaign.

And others said that In campaigners had been "aggressive" in their efforts to persuade them to sign.

One business leader, who declined to be named, said that Downing Street officials had been "shouty" and "furious" when he indicated that he was not prepared to sign the letter.

Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who is campaigning to leave the EU, said this week that a Downing Street "operation" was being deployed to "lean on" business leaders.

In recent weeks, major employers such as Airbus, BT Group (LSE: BT-A.L - news) , Diageo (LSE: DGE.L - news) and JP Morgan have told their workforces that the economic risks of leaving include the loss of UK jobs and investment.