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The Tories have lost the right to call themselves the “party of business” by continuing to push for a hard Brexit, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron claimed today.

New research shows 174,000 small and medium size businesses in the UK are led by at least one EU director, with almost half of these companies based in London.

Mr Farron said today he fears these EU entrepreneurs will leave for the continent if they face crippling barriers to trade.

He told the Standard: “Thousands of entrepreneurs from Europe choose to set up in London because it is one of the world’s best places to do business.

“But the disastrous hard Brexit Theresa May chosen, outside the single market, is hanging businesses out to dry.

“There is a serious risk business owners could choose to set up elsewhere, costing jobs in London.”

He used a speech in St Albans, Hertfordshire, today to make a pitch to businesses to ditch the Conservatives and back the Lib Dems on June 8.

In London 76,529 SMEs are led by at least one director from an EU-27 country, according to research by the House of Commons Library.

This is 43 per cent of the national total.

Mr Farron said Theresa May’s decision to quit the single market and customs union will have a serious impact at director level, which in turn could lead to problems with recruitment.

He said: “The Conservatives have lost any right to call themselves the party of business.”

Theresa May said in her first major General Election campaign speech in the West Midlands how the Conservatives “will always be the party of businesses large and small” and will build a stronger economy after Brexit.

Today pro-Remain campaigner and financier Gina Miller officially launched her “Best for Britain” campaign. This crowd-funded organisation has so far raised £284,000 of a £300,000 target and will encourage tactical voting in favour of candidates that will push for a Parliamentary vote on the final Brexit deal.

A Conservative spokesman said: “All a vote for the Liberal Democrats will do is put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street with taxes rising, the deficit ballooning and many jobs lost.

“The only way to get the strong and stable leadership our businesses need for Brexit and beyond is to vote for Theresa May and your local Conservative candidate on 8 June.”