Photo: HM Treasury
Chancellor George Osborne has said Brexit would put "tens of thousands" of financial services jobs under threat, in his latest bid to convince the British public to remain in the European Union.
Analysis from the Treasury claims 285,000 jobs in this sector are connected to financial services exports to the EU.
Of this, 100,000 jobs are directly linked to the EU, while another 185,000 rely on indirect demand coming from this link.
Quoting this statistic, the Chancellor said leaving the single market "would be catastrophic for jobs and income", adding everyone in the industry "who know what is at stake [must] speak up".
"Tens of thousands of jobs in financial services and connected industries would be at risk if Britain votes to leave the EU on June 23," Osborne said.
His comments come at the same time as the latest survey from the British Chambers of Commerce showed 54% of business workers, of 2,200 surveyed, plan to vote for the 'stay' campaign.
However, this majority has reduced since the survey in February, when 60% of respondents said they would vote to remain in the EU.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Vote Leave campaign countered Osborne's warnings, saying: "A decade ago we were told the City would be wiped out if we did not join the euro, now they are saying the same about the referendum.
"The same banks that crashed the global economy are the institutions now plowing money into the remain campaign.
"If we vote 'leave' we can regulate the wide-boys while allowing financial exports to grow across the world."
