Brexit: Leaving EU ‘would make it hard to source top tech talent’ – Tech City bosses

Tech companies have warned that leaving the EU could spell disaster for Silicon Roundabout.

More than four out of five members of tech coalition group Tech London Advocates believe a Brexit would make it harder for start-ups to employ people from EU countries, reducing the talent pool available to UK tech firms.

Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates, told the Gazette: “The EU needs reforming and we have recently seen that this is possible.

“But it also gives us access to talent we so urgently require, as well as a market of 500 million people – bigger than the US.

“Tech London Advocates know how hard it can be to compete with US companies that have had access to a large market from the day they were founded, and the EU’s Digital Single Market can tip the scales back in favour of European tech.

“[Tech companies] have made it clear that they wish the UK to stay within the EU, and that they want their voices to be heard.

“Attracting international companies to the capital has been one of the great success stories of London’s digital economy. Brexit could see global businesses [moving to] emerging digital hubs in Berlin, Paris and Stockholm rather than London.”

Tech London Advocates represent startups in Old Street and Shoreditch as well as other emerging tech areas of London.

Other tech giants have also spoken out against leaving the EU.

Asked where she stood on the EU debate, Tech City chair Eileen Burbidge tweeted: “Your choice, in for me.”