MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Lord Stuart Rose, former executive chairman of Marks and Spencer, a British multinational retailer, will lead a campaign in favour of the United Kingdom remaining part of the European Union, The Guardian reports.
"I believe the case for Britain to remain in the EU is clear. So I’m delighted to join the in campaign’s board as chair, and I look forward to introducing the rest of the board at our campaign event on Monday," Rose said as quoted by the newspaper on Friday.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum on the United Kingdom's EU membership by the end of 2017.
Rose, who is now chairman of British online supermarket Ocado, believes that the United Kingdom will be stronger if it remains part of the bloc.
"The choice in the coming referendum is between remaining stronger, safer and better off inside Europe, or taking a leap into the unknown, risking our prosperity, threatening our safety, and diminishing our influence in the world," Rose said ahead of the "In Campaign" launch, as quoted by The Guardian.
Opposing the "In Campaign" is the "Vote Leave" campaign launched on Friday. According to the "Vote Leave" website a number of British millionaires are in favour of Brexit (Britain leaving the European Union). Peter Cruddas, the former Conservative treasurer and banker, Labour Party donor John Mills, and Stuart Wheeler, a betting tycoon and former treasurer of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) are among "Vote Leave" supporters.
A YouGov poll released last week said that some 40 percent of Britons support exiting the European Union, against 38 percent who would vote to stay in the bloc.
Ahead of the Brexit referendum, Cameron is seeking to revise the terms of Britain's EU membership, including obtaining greater autonomy for defining national immigration policy.
Earlier in October, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned that if the United Kingdom does not get the commitments it needs from the European Union, British people will vote in favour of the United Kingdom exiting the European Union.
