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EU referendum: Brexit ‘risks 1,000 London-based EU jobs’

Up to 1,000 jobs in London could be threatened by Brexit
Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images
Joe Murphy @JoeMurphyLondon
1 June 2016

Italy and Spain are plotting to hijack 1,000 jobs from London if Britons vote to leave the European Union on June 23, it was claimed today.

They have lobbied in Brussels for EU regulators currently based in London to be relocated to Rome or Madrid if Britain chooses to quit.

Cabinet minister Justine Greening said the jobs at two agencies and a third due to open shortly were being “threatened”.

The European Medicines Agency, which employs 890 people, and the European Banking Authority, which has 146 staff, have their headquarters in the British capital. A London-based section of a third body, a new Unified Patent Court serving the EU, is due to start operations in the year ahead. Judges are currently being recruited to serve with it.

The agencies not only employ professionals directly, but attract satellite firms such as specialist lawyers and lobbyists.

Ms Greening, the International Development Secretary and MP for Putney, said it was more evidence that voting to leave would “risk jobs and livelihoods”.

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“One example here in London are the hundreds of jobs in important EU organisations like the European Medicines Agency and European Banking Authority that would be threatened if we left,” she told the Standard.

However, the warning was dismissed by Vote Leave, which said far more jobs would be created in London if Britain leaves the EU.

The European Medicines Agency, based in London since 1995, is responsible for the safety of medicines sold across the single market. Seven in 10 of its staff are women. Denmark and Sweden have reportedly also expressed interest in hosting the organisation if Britain leaves.

The European Banking Authority, based at Canary Wharf, was set up in 2011 after the banking crisis and is developing a “single rulebook” to prevent future disasters.

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