Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has said he is close to supporting a second referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. Francois Lenoir/ Reuters
Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has said he is close to supporting a second referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. Francois Lenoir/ Reuters
Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has said he is close to supporting a second referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. Francois Lenoir/ Reuters
Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has said he is close to supporting a second referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. Francois Lenoir/ Reuters

Europe

Top Brexiteer appears to back second referendum on Britain’s EU membership

Nigel Farage said a second referendum would “kill off” the Remain campaign for a generation

Claire Corkery
Claire Corkery

January 11, 2018

  • English
  • Arabic

Nigel Farage, arguably the most well-known campaigner for ending Britain’s membership of the EU, has said he is warming to the idea of a second referendum on the issue.

In June 2016, the Leave vote won a narrow majority of 51.89 per cent resulting in repeated calls from high profile Remain campaigners to repeat the vote.

Mr Farage, who- like many Leave campaigners- has accused those wishing for a second referendum of sour grapes, appeared to change his mind during a television interview on Thursday.

The former UKIP leader said a new vote would end the Remain campaign because “the percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time around”.

He told Channel 5’s mid-morning show The Wright Stuff: "What is for certain is that the [Nick] Cleggs, the [Tony] Blairs, the [Lord] Adonises will never ever, ever, give up.

"They will go on whinging and whining and moaning all the way through this process.

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"So maybe, just maybe, I'm reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum on EU membership... and we may just finish the whole thing off.”

Mr Farage’s comments were welcomed by many on the Remain side, including former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who tweeted: “I agree with Nigel.”

Another prominent Brexiteer, businessman Aaron Banks, supported Mr Farage’s call, adding that a second referendum would stop Britain sleepwalking into what he called a “faux Brexit, in name only”.

Mr Banks said: “The only option now is to go back to the polls and let the people shout from the rooftops their support of a true Brexit.”

Results of a poll published last month said that 51 per cent of Britons backed remaining in the EU in comparison with 41 per cent who supported leaving. The remaining eight per cent said they would not vote or did not know.

The research, conducted by the BMG Research poll for The Independent, said it was the biggest margin in favour of remaining since the 2016 referendum.

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Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.

Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.  

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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