Brexit would have a “devastating” impact on inward investment to the UK, the chief executive of Virgin Money has warned.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia said a vote to leave the EU would result in investment in London and beyond moving to other financial centres in Europe.
Ms Gadhia, a member of the Scotland Stronger In Europe advisory group, said Scotland’s economic prosperity is “critically linked” to EU membership.
At a briefing in Edinburgh, the main pro-Europe campaign in Scotland argued that Scottish votes could be “crucial” to the overall outcome, as a Survation poll for the Daily Record put support for remaining in the EU at 76% north of the border.
Ms Gadhia said: “London, and the benefits of that go all the way through to Edinburgh and beyond, is such a key financial services centre for Europe and for the world.
“And all of the people who know what’s likely to happen… the view very strongly is that if Britain votes to come out of the EU then that centre of financial excellence will move to Paris and Frankfurt.
“All of the investment that big companies have made, whether they are global companies from overseas or our own companies, if you like, in the infrastructure, employment and success of London and beyond would actually be untangled and would move to Europe, and I think that disruption is very, very significant and I think would have a devastating effect on internal, inward investment to the UK economy.
“In the end, from what I understand, the economy will make the ultimate difference to people’s decision, I suppose because this will affect the pound in people’s pockets.
“It will mean that when you are in Europe and you want to use your mobile phone you are going to have to pay more, it will put the costs of flights up, it will put up prices in the shops, it will increase mortgage and credit card rates.
“People will definitely be very materially worse off out of Europe.”
She added: “Scotland’s economic prosperity is critically linked to equal access to the biggest single market in the world.
“It is inconceivable that we could have the same equality of access to the single market if we leave the EU.”
Professor Mona Siddiqui, who chairs the advisory group, said the Remain campaign “should not be seen as a campaign that’s about the Tory Party”.
She added: “At the end of the day people will look at the economics of it and people will look at how much is it going to cost me to phone home if we vote to leave.
“But peace is not a high blown narrative, prosperity is not a high blown narrative, and I think that these are the intangibles that we need to drive home as well as the tangibles.”
John Edward, senior campaign spokesman, said: “The Scottish turnout and the Scottish vote in this election shows every sign of being influential if not crucial to the overall turnout in the UK.
“So every Scot who does vote on the 23rd will know that their vote is making a very substantial difference.”
But he added: “It won’t be just Scotland alone. Scotland couldn’t take the whole of the UK on its own. There are other parts of the UK which currently are polling In, such as London, there are the other nations and regions as well.
“Obviously it can’t be one part of the UK versus the others but the collective effort across all the different campaigns.”
