UK must stay within EU: Bilimoria

It would be much better for the UK to end up staying in the EU as it is only a matter of time before the people see that the "Brexit emperor has no clothes", leading NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria has said.
Participating in the debate on Queen's Speech in the House of Lords yesterday, Lord Bilimoria, founder-Chairman of the Cobra beer and Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, said, "In reality, it is only a matter of time before the people see that the Brexit emperor has no clothes."
Given the option of a hardBrexit or a soft Brexit, the opinion of the British people at that time will probably be, "Why not just stay with what we've got, which is the best of both worlds?"

"As French President (Emmanuel) Macron has said and as the rest of the EU would welcome, it would be much better for us to end up staying in the EU, and there may well be no Brexit whatever," he said.
The Prime Minister said that there will be no turning back after she triggers Article 50, whereas the noble Lord Kerr -- the person who wrote Article 50 -- has said time and again that "we can turn back at any time simply by saying, 'We do not want to do this, Unilaterally, we withdraw'," Bilimoria said.
In his hard-hitting speech, Bilimoria said British Prime Minister Theresa May tried to sideline Parliament to implement Article 50 (of the Treaty of Lisbon) which outlines the procedure for the exit from the EU membership.

It was only with the big defeats suffered by the government here in the House of Lords that the Prime Minister had to call the election, which has exposed a premier who has not listened, he said.

She has not listened to Parliament, business or the people, Bilimoria asserted.
The gracious Queen's speechtalks about establishing new policies on immigration. The Prime Minister has not listened on immigration and targeted tens of thousands, he said.
"She has not listened to universities. I am proud to say that the University of Birmingham, where I am a chancellor, and the Cambridge Judge Business School where I chair the advisory board, have just been awarded gold in the new teaching excellence framework," he said.

International students bring 25 billion into the UK. They are one of the strongest forms of soft power in this country, yet they are still treated as immigrants in the net migration figures, Bilimoria said.
The Prime Minister refused to listen and took them out of those figures, he said.
Bilimoria recalled that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in November 2015, he had discussed with premier May that the movement of people is important for India.
"We talk about trade deals, but there can be no trade deal without looking at the movement of people as well. The Indian High Commissioner here, Y K Sinha, has said very clearly that India is open to a bilateral trade deal but there will be no trade deal without looking at the movement of people," Bilimoria said.

"Look at the realities of a country such as India, with 1.25 billion people. How many bilateral trade deals does India have with the rest of the world? Nine, and not one with a western country," he said.