Is the BBC still a member of the CBI? The BBC suspended its membership during the Scottish independence referendum when the CBI joined the No campaign…..did it renew its membership?
The CBI is now supporting staying in the EU though disingenuously not doing so ‘officially’….
CBI to make economic case to remain in EU after reaffirming strong member mandate
It tells us that….
80% of CBI members, when weighted to reflect its membership – including 71% of small and mid-sized business members – believe that the UK remaining a member of the EU would be best for their business. Overall, 5% say it is in their firms’ best interests for the UK to leave the EU, with 15% unsure.
I don’t have a list of all the members of the CBI but it would be interesting to see who these ‘businesses’ are exactly…if they are like the BBC then clearly their opinon is more political than economic….something Daniel Hannan suggested….
I once attended a regional CBI conference in my constituency. I’m pretty certain that the businesses – in the sense of organisations that had to make profits – were outnumbered by the charities, local government agencies and NGOs. There was even, I remember, a local Scout group. Yet this is the organisation which is represented by the BBC as the voice of British industry.
It does represent some industries, of course, especially the large multi-nationals that are most adept at reaching accommodations with governments. Mega-corporations generally love Brussels, intuiting that the system was made for them. They have invested a great deal of time and money in getting regulations that suit them at the expense of their smaller rivals. The last thing they want is to have to start all over again.
NGO’s, charities, the BBC maybe, and even a scout group…..I’m grateful to the CBI for doing the hard work canvassing their opinions on the EU but don’t present them to us as ‘businesses’ who are completely apolitical.
If the BBC is once again a member perhaps it should consider resuspending itself….for good.
“80% of CBI members, when weighted to reflect its membership”
So unweighted 80% wanted to leave?
Weighted !? Adding or subtracting a weight ? In racing the terminology is called Handicapping .
The weights are lead carried by the saddles , the idea being that the better horses are slowed to make nearly all the horses finish together . The most famous handicap race in the world is the Grand National .
So BBC , can you ask your fellow travellers the CBI who was saddled with extra weights to get your desired results ?
You guys are so paranoid. ‘Weighting’ statistics is a tried and tested, perfectly respectable method for arriving at desired conclusions. The highly respected AGW scientists use this method all the time and their records show they’ve been proved right 103.7% of the time.