Join me in reversing two decades of misrule by Brussels

I left school at 15 to find work. As an entrepreneur, I have fought my way to the top of my industry. I feel it is my job to give more young people the chance to succeed – something I do through my charitable trust, the Peter Cruddas Foundation.

Today, when I look at the EU, I no longer see a set of institutions that is helping to further the ambitions of so many people to get on in life.

I understand the pressures of starting and running a business. I know what it feels like when a company reaches its milestones – growing from two or three staff to 50, then 500, or expanding overseas.

These are real achievements and each one is fraught with challenges of cost and time, and each one involves fresh reams of regulation. Today, the EU has made this process more difficult and more expensive.

Some estimates put the cost of EU regulation to business at upwards of £7bn a year. This situation is harming companies in the UK and around Europe, and is simply untenable.

For most of the past two decades, EU financial rules and regulations were usually based on British laws – focused on liberalisation and free trade.

This all changed in the wake of the financial crisis, however. Today, the EU concentrates on regulation and restriction. The proposed Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), also known as the Tobin tax, would be a disaster for the City, even if Britain remained outside the regime.

For my industry, it threatens to impose a huge cost on financial transactions – initial reports suggested that transaction costs could increase 18-fold.

Although some financial products have received exemptions from the European Commission, senior politicians in Europe are now calling for the FTT to apply to derivatives and other products.

This would seriously hurt an industry in which Britain leads the world. And this is only the tip of the iceberg of anti-competitive measures that Brussels is aiming at our financial services industry and the City.

Something has to change. I’ve felt this for some time, but the route to achieving it has not always been clear. Today, I can see the beginnings of how we – business and the public – can effect a change in how the EU operates.

Europe’s economic crisis – as well as its legitimacy crisis – is increasing the number of calls for major reform. In Britain, the growing pressure for a better deal from Brussels has finally permeated the political class, and all the main political parties are now talking about renegotiating a new deal with our European partners.

It’s time to decide what we want from the EU and to make that change happen. To that end, I have joined the board of Business for Britain – an organisation backed by hundreds of UK business people who are starting to draw up the options for changing the terms of Britain’s EU membership.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse two decades of misrule. I urge all business people who want to see a better deal to join me and Business for Britain today in making sure we sort out the mess.

Peter Cruddas is the founder and majority owner of CMC markets, the financial trading company

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