Lord Bamford writes to digger giant’s 6,500 UK employees explaining why he favours Leave

JCB chairman Lord Bamford has written to the firm’s 6,500 UK employees explaining why he’s personally backing leaving the EU.

In the letter he said he was “very confident that we can stand on our own two feet”, ahead of the referendum on 23 June.

His letter added: “I voted to stay in the Common Market in 1975. 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 over us.

“So do I wish to remain in an EU of diminishing economic importance 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?”

The JCB chairman told workers it was up to them to make a choice, but urged them to vote in the referendum.

Building magazine is backing remaining in the EU, through our ‘Building says IN’ campaign, after results of an exclusive survey of 1,300 construction professionals last month showed two-thirds supported staying in.

This week leading figures including the developer behind London’s tallest under-construction tower and a top boss at European products giant Saint Gobain have warned of the damage Brexit could wreak on the UK construction sector and beyond.