Closer UK ties with the European Union (EU) could lift growth but make it easier for wealthy Britons to leave, deVere Group chief executive Nigel Green warned on 12 October.
Green spoke as Prime Minister Andy Burnham prepared to ask MPs to back a closer relationship with the bloc. Burnham’s office said he would tell Parliament that Brexit had done more harm than good and that turning away from a possible new deal with the EU would be a dereliction of duty. He has not ruled out a future manifesto pledge to rejoin, and has not said whether another referendum would be needed.
Green, whose firm advises internationally mobile and high-net-worth clients, said cutting the paperwork, border checks and delays that followed Brexit would feed through to exports, productivity and business confidence. He expected sterling to benefit if relations with Europe looked more settled, and argued that British shares, long cheap against their peers, could rerate. Talk of a second referendum would bring some volatility, he said, but investors mainly want to know which direction the country is heading.
The warning matters for Britain’s tax base. Green said the same changes that ease trade with Europe would also ease the movement of people and their money. Entrepreneurs, senior executives and mobile families were already weighing moves abroad as taxes rose, he said, and freer movement in Europe would remove one more obstacle. He argued the government must pair the EU reset with a competitive tax system, faster planning and policy stability. “Get only one right and it simply becomes easier for people to leave,” he said.
Burnham’s push comes with a sharp claim about the 2016 vote. On The Rest Is Politics podcast, broadcast on 12 October, he said he had asked for high-level advice after becoming prime minister in July and was told Russia had interfered in the referendum. He is the first British prime minister to say so openly. He also said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had told him the far-right Alternative for Germany party was linked to Russia.
Ministers have struggled to give detail. On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, minister Stephen Doughty declined to discuss specifics and pointed instead to Russian attempts to interfere in a range of democratic events. He told LBC that Russia had spent €1.5 billion on disinformation this year alone. Conservative shadow minister Andrew Bowie criticised the government’s messaging. Russia has denied meddling in the Brexit vote and in British politics generally.
The claim revisits an old dispute. In 2020, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee said the government had never assessed possible Russian interference in the referendum and called for one, while finding credible evidence of Russian influence efforts around Scotland’s 2014 independence vote.
Burnham is due to address MPs on the EU relationship this week.
