Vacuum cleaner magnate Sir James Dyson backs Brexit in hammer blow to Downing Street
Billionaire entrepreneur gives huge boost to Leave campaigners as he backs us breaking away from Brussels bloc
INVENTOR Sir James Dyson last night gave a huge boost to the Brexit campaign – by declaring he wants Britain to quit the European Union.
One of the UK’s best known entrepreneurs – hailed as “brilliant” by the PM – broke cover in a move that will be a hammer blow to Downing Street.
The Leave campaign had been desperate to secure his backing to counter David Cameron and George Osborne’s relentless warnings that quitting the EU could “wreck” the UK economy.
It comes just days after Lord Bamford, the boss of digger maker JCB, urged his 5,000 UK staff to back a Brexit, saying there was “very little to fear” from voting out of the EU.
Dyson is recognised as being one of the top British “superbrands” in the world and is famous for reinventing everyday devices such as vacuum cleaners and hand dryers.
Two years ago Sir James said he “did not particularly” want to stay in the EU because it was dominated by Germany and did not want to champion new technologies.
He said: “I don’t see that we need to be dominated and bullied by the Germans.”
David Cameron made Sir James his technology tsar in 2009 as part of his Get Britain Working masterplan.
The billionaire advised the Tories on reviving Britain’s industrial base and produced a 60-page report titled Ingenious Britain: Making the UK the leading high-tech exporter in Europe.
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Two years ago, on a tour of Dyson’s Wiltshire HQ, the PM said: “To have seen all this expanding and all these jobs created, it’s a remarkable story and a credit to Sir James and everyone who works here.”
Eurosceptics claim the EU is poised to rush through new laws to ban high-powered appliances such as kettles, toasters to hair dryers within months of Britain’s referendum. Sources claim Brussels wants to unveil long-delayed "ecodesign" restrictions.