Ed Miliband tried to shrug off the companies' complaints. Asked if they were Labour supporting businesses at a gathering of business leaders in Bloomberg, central London, he said: “No. We have simply quoted public statements by the businesses, about the place of Britain in the European Union. I think that lots of businesses all around this country are not going to be supporting either labour or the Conservatives but they are going to have a very strong view about our place in the EU. And I think this is absolutely at stake in this general election. Are we going to be reforming the EU from the inside or threatening exit? That is something that the vast majority of business people would share Labour’s position on.”