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The boss of building equipment firm JCB has backed the idea of Britain leaving the European Union, saying the country could exist “peacefully and sensibly” on its own.
Lord Bamford's comments – which are at odds with sentiments expressed by a number of other business leaders including the manufacturers' body the EEF – come after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to hold an in/out referendum on membership by the end of 2017.
The remarks came as the family-held firm posted annual earnings for 2014 down 3.2% to £303 million as revenues slipped 6.3% to £2.5 billion.
Lord Bamford, a Tory donor, told BBC Midlands Today: “We are the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world. We could exist on our own - peacefully and sensibly.”
He said an exit would enable the UK to “negotiate as our country rather than being one of 28 nations”.
JCB chief executive Graeme Macdonald told a newspaper that Britain should leave the EU unless it reforms, playing down fears that an exit could hit exports to the Continent.
He told the Guardian: “I really don't think it would make a blind bit of difference to trade with Europe (if the UK left an unreformed EU).
“There has been far too much scaremongering about things like jobs. I don't think it's in anyone's interest to stop trade. I don't think we or Brussels will put up trade barriers.”
He said red tape and bureaucracy must be reduced, describing some of it as costly and “quite frankly ridiculous”.
“Whether that means renegotiating or exiting, I don't think it can carry on as it is. It's a burden on our business and it's easier selling to North America than to Europe sometimes,” said Macdonald.
The comments are at odds with those of some other business leaders.
Terry Scuoler, chief executive of the EEF, said in an interview with PE last month, that development and growth would be severely impacted if the UK was to leave the EU. “Some 49% of our exports go to the EU.”
JCB's annual results showed the effect of slowing economies, lower oil prices and geopolitical unrest in developing nations were partly offset by a construction boom in the UK.
The 69-year-old Staffordshire-based firm said the construction equipment market in Brazil dropped by 17% last year, Russia fell by 27%, India by almost 15% and China by 17%. Markets in the UK jumped by 30% and lifted by 13% in the US.
Lord Bamford said: “For different reasons each of the Bric markets - of Brazil, Russia, India and China - were sharply down in 2014.
“However, the broad spread of our business enabled us to benefit from better conditions in North America, Western Europe and particularly the UK.”
The firm, which employs 12,500 staff, sells heavy digging machines in more than 120 countries.
Lord Bamford added: “Global market uncertainty has continued into 2015, though our home market of the UK remains a rare bright spot.”
The business said it had created 2,000 jobs at its 11 UK plants since 2010, adding that it was currently increasing production capacity at its head office complex in Staffordshire.
It is also building a new €25 million (£18 million) head office site at its German business, and last year it opened a 70,000 sq ft factory in Jaipur in India which cost £62 million.