Superdry’s co-founder has donated £1 million to the campaign for a second EU referendum.
Julian Dunkerton gave the record donation to the People’s Vote campaign because “we have a genuine chance to turn this around”.
The donation was given amid the growing concern that Britain will leave the EU without a deal.
A poll by the Observer has found that 40 percent of people believe the UK will leave the EU in March without any deal. This is up from 31 percent the month previous.
“If Brexit had happened 20 years earlier, Superdry would never have become the global success that it did,” said Dunkerton.
“We would have struggled to cope with negotiating customs and tariffs. Perhaps even more importantly, Europe was our staging post because inside the single market we had no fear of opening a store in France, Germany, Belgium or anywhere else.”
“I’m putting some of my money behind the People’s Vote campaign because we have a genuine chance to turn this around. I’ve got a good instinct for when a mood is going to change and we’re in one of those moments now. It’s becoming clear there is no vision for Brexit and the politicians have made a mess of it. Increasingly, the public knows that Brexit is going to be a disaster. Maybe they just need to be given that little bit of hope that comes when they see how opinion is moving.”
“I will be paying for one of the most detailed polling exercises ever undertaken by a campaign so that more and more people have the confidence to demand the democratic right for their voice to be heard – to get a People’s Vote on any Brexit deal or the outcome of these negotiations,” he added.
The donation will pay for a polling blitz that organisers hope will allow for a growth in momentum for their campaign.
Shares in Superdry (LON: SDRY) are currently down 1.04 percent at 1.140,00 (1119 GMT).