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’….

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.