Billionaire JCB boss and Tory donor backs Brexit and tells his 6,000 staff Britain will 'thrive' outside the EU in a personal blow to Cameron and his gloomy economy claims

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A billionaire manufacturing boss has launched an impassioned plea for Brexit in a devastating personal blow to David Cameron's Remain campaign.

In a letter explaining his stance to his employees, JCB boss and Conservative peer Anthony Bamford said the UK was a 'trading nation' that could 'stand on its own two feet'.

The intervention from one of the Tory Party's biggest donors is a significant boost for the Leave campaign as the referendum enters its final fortnight.

Lord Bamford is the first major employer to write to his staff and recommend a Brexit vote despite Downing Street efforts to tie up business support for staying in the EU.

In a letter explaining his stance to his employees, JCB boss and Conservative peer Anthony Bamford (left) said the UK was a 'trading nation' that could 'stand on its own two feet

But it also highlights a rift between the 70-year-old peer and his one-time political soulmate, William Hague, who was for years a strident Eurosceptic.

While Lord Hague yesterday launched a withering attack on Leave campaigners and backed the pro-Brussels camp, Lord Bamford has stuck to his guns.

In the open letter, the tycoon told his 6,000 UK staff that Britain has 'little to fear' outside the EU.

He added that he was confident that the UK and the company founded by his father 70 years ago will be just as successful after leaving the EU. 

Employer recommendations are thought to be highly influential as millions of Britons wrestle with the referendum question with just two weeks to go.  

Despite being a known supporter of the Leave campaign, Lord Bamford has largely remained silent during the debate.

But ahead of the June 23 vote said the outcome of the referendum would 'have a lasting impact on the lives of our children and grandchildren'.

The peer rejected increasingly shrill claims from pro-Brussels campaigners – including Lord Hague – that quitting the EU would damage the economy and lead to a slump in trade.

'I am very confident that we can stand on our own two feet,' he said. 'I believe that JCB and the UK can prosper just as much outside the EU, so there is very little to fear if we choose to leave.'

While Lord Hague yesterday launched a withering attack on Leave campaigners and backed the pro-Brussels camp, Lord Bamford has stuck to his guns (pictured with his wife Lady Carole)

No 10 had been eager to demonstrate business support for its Remain campaign.

Mr Cameron has campaigned at a series of events hosted by major firms while companies including Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Microsoft have all written to staff endorsing Remain.

The declaration will be seen as a personal blow to Mr Cameron after JCB hosted him for a major speech on migration in 2014 at which he promised all EU migrants would need a job offer to come to Britain.

In the end, Mr Cameron's renegotiation secured only a promise that migrants would not get full access to the benefits system system straight away. 

Famed for its diggers and trucks, JCB is one of Britain's most successful exporters, selling to more than 150 countries.

Lord Bamford - worth an estimated £2.7billion by Forbes - pointed out that while EU countries account for 22 per cent of its annual sales, 78 per cent comes from the UK, India, the Americas, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Far East.

Lord Anthony and Lady Carole Bamford with their daughter Alice (left). He said that the UK as a whole is also becoming less reliant on the EU for trade

Lady Carole and Lord Anthony Bamford Fawaz Gruosi's birthday party at the Billionaire club in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy

In a further blow to the Remain campaign's economic claims, Lord Bamford said that the UK as a whole is also becoming less reliant on the EU for trade.

He said 53 per cent of all UK exports now going to non-EU countries.

In his letter, the peer stressed that he was not always opposed to the EU, having voted to stay in the Common Market in 1975.

But he added that the creeping influence of Brussels over the past 40 years and 'the shrinking role of the EU in the world economy' means the best course of action is for Britain to go it alone. 

He said: 'I did not vote for a political union. I did not expect us to hand over sovereignty to the EU. I certainly did not expect unaccountable leaders in Brussels to govern us.

'So do I wish to remain in an EU of diminishing influence as it moves towards ever closer union?

'Or do I want us to pull out of the EU, reclaim our sovereignty and regain control of how we trade with Europe and the world?

'After more than 40 years in the EU, I will be voting to leave. How you vote is entirely a decision for you.

'I respectfully urge you to consider all the arguments ahead of this important referendum.'

Last night Eurosceptics compared Lord Bamford's 'polite tone' with the heavy-handed warnings from pro-Brussels politicians and business leaders, who have lined up to warn of job losses if Britain quits the EU.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a backbench Tory MP and member of the Vote Leave campaign, said: 'It is very impressive that so successful an entrepreneur is supporting the Leave campaign.

'And it's very interesting that bosses of big businesses tend to favour Brussels but entrepreneurs favour leaving.'

But Labour MP Barry Sheerman, who backs Remain, dismissed the endorsement.

He said: 'I trust my local engineering firms who are desperate to remain in Europe more than eccentric JCB boss.'

The Remain campaign has welcomed endorsements from the CBI and most of Britain's biggest trade union and said the succession of announcements during the campaign shows they have the support of business to protect access to the single market.

Chancellor George Osborne last night trumpeted the support of Airbus for the Remain campaign and turned up to a live interview with a plane component to try and make his case.

And at a campaign event in Scotland today, Mr Osborne is due to say: 'Every credible independent voice agrees that if the UK votes to leave the EU there would be a profound economic shock that would hurt people's jobs, livelihoods and living standards in Scotland.

'Trade exports to the EU have created jobs in Scotland and withdrawing from the single market would have a huge impact on the economy here.

'It is simply not a price worth paying.

'I urge everyone to vote to Remain in the EU on June 23.'

The endorsement of Lord Bamford will also come as a personal blow to William Hague, the one-time political soulmate of the JCB billionaire 

Lord Hague yesterday urged voters to overlook their 'parochial' concerns about immigration and vote to remain in the EU in two weeks time.

The former Tory leader, who ran the 2001 general election on a Eurosceptic platform, said his four years as foreign secretary convinced him of the importance of the European Union.

In a later speech, Lord Hague warned it would be 'irresponsible and potentially dangerous' to quit the trading bloc after the June 23 referendum. 

Lord Hague, who has in the past expressed concerns about levels of immigration into Britain, insisted that was 'not the issue' on which people should decide how they vote.

'You should be ashamed of yourself!': Rattled Osborne forced to admit pensioners WON'T be worse off after Brexit as he's mauled for scaremongering on live TV

George Osborne was last night attacked on live TV for claiming Brexit would hit pensioners as he reluctantly admitted their income would actually be protected.

Presenter Andrew Neil told the Chancellor he should be ‘ashamed’ of a pro-EU advert showing an elderly woman holding an empty purse.

Last month, Mr Osborne had prompted controversy by claiming that quitting the EU would trigger higher inflation, leaving pensioners losing as much as £32,000.

In last night’s BBC interview, he continued to insist the elderly had ‘a lot to be scared about if we leave the EU’.

Chancellor George Osborne tonight insisted Brexit held many risks and there was a lot to be scared of if the country decides to quit the EU in two weeks time 

However, under heavy pressure from Mr Neil, he conceded pensioners would benefit from a ‘triple lock’ on their incomes.

This Government measure is enshrined in law and means the State pension will always rise by inflation or the rate of earnings or 2.5 per cent. Even if prices spike, their income will never rise by less than inflation.

During their fraught 30-minute encounter, Mr Neil pointed to the empty purse poster released by the Osborne-backed Britain Stronger in Europe group. He then told the Chancellor: ‘You’ve been scaring pensioners. You should be ashamed of yourself.’ 

Government policy, known as the 'triple lock', guarantees pensions grow by at least 2.5 per cent, wage increases or inflation - whichever is largest.

Mr Osborne used the bizarre metaphor of a snakes and ladders board to warn Brexit could mean the country's economy could slip down the 'big snake'.

Mr Osborne insisted: 'You've attempted to say we are trying to scare the population - you've said it twice now. 

'Frankly there is a lot to be scared about if we leave the European Union and we risk our economy. It's a risk to pensioners, it's a risk to home-owners, it's a risk to people in work.

'The state pension because we have a successful, strong, growing economy which we don't want to put at risk rises by the so-called triple lock.'

EU referendum result could face a legal challenge after ministers were accused of 'skewing' voting by extending registration by TWO DAYS because website crashed 

The EU referendum result could be open to a legal challenge after the online voter registration process descended into ‘a shambles’, ministers were warned last night.

The deadline for voters to register online was extended by 48 hours after the official website crashed on Tuesday night in the run-up to the midnight cutoff, potentially denying thousands the chance to take part in the June 23 poll.

Chris Grayling, the pro-Brexit Leader of the House of Commons, made an emergency statement to say legislation will be introduced today to allow an extension to midnight tonight.

The Government voter registration website crashed last night just two hours before the deadline

But Bernard Jenkin, a Tory backbencher and Leave campaigner, warned that in extending the deadline by two days, when the website was down for only 90 minutes, the Government was on the ‘cusp of legality’.

He said that if the Remain side narrowly wins the referendum, there could be a court injunction against the result. Mr Jenkin, chairman of the Commons public administration committee, told BBC Radio 4: ‘We are not a banana republic. We shouldn’t be making up the rules for our elections as we go along. This is a shambles.’

No 10 said the solution was arrived at after discussions with the Electoral Commission and opposition parties, and was ‘legally watertight’.

Observers said those seeking to register at the last minute were more likely to be young Remain supporters.

Officially the Leave campaign welcomed the extension last night, but senior figures were said to be ‘seething’ at the decision.

Earlier in the day, Vote Leave’s Matthew Elliott had suggested ministers were trying to ‘skew’ the result.