By Andy Silvester
SIR RICHARD BRANSON has warned the UK no longer appreciates entrepreneurship – as he prepares the UK’s first ever rocket launch.
Virgin Orbit is set to send a 747 named Cosmic Girl to 40,000 feet as soon as this evening – taking off from a spaceport in Cornwall – at which point it will then release a rocket attached to its wing into space, sending seven satellites into orbit.
Branson has told LBC, in an interview to be broadcast later today, that despite the successes of market capitalism, there is a danger the UK public at large does not necessarily see it the same way.
Asked if there was a “lack of appreciation” of entrepreneurship in the UK and whether “people don’t appreciate the benefits of what private enterprise can actually bring,” Branson said “I think that’s true.”
“There’s a lot of people that do, but a lot of people that don’t,” he continued.
Branson’s rocket launch marks a step forward in the UK’s ambition to become a space superpower, as more firms look to put high-end tech into orbit.
Branson also describes the use of the term “billionaire” as “slightly demeaning” as it implies entrepreneurs are only in it for the money.
“What I’ve tried to do is create things that people like, that enhance the Virgin brand, and that at the end of the year more money comes in than goes out,” he said.
Richard Branson was a vocal supporter of the campaign to remain in Europe prior to the referendum in 2016 and claimed today that ministers should strike a Swiss-style deal to ease the flow of trade in future.
“I think what the government needs to do is to urgently seek a mutually beneficially relationship with the EU – it’s the world’s largest trading bloc – it needs to be at least similar to the deal Switzerland has.”
Such an arrangement would see the UK fall in line with the EU on food and agricultural standards and would slash the checks on goods between the UK and the bloc. Suggestions of a Swiss-style deal have recently been rubbished by ministers however, after backlash from hardline Eurosceptics in the Tory party.
The post Branson: Britain doesn’t appreciate private enterprise – and don’t call me a billionaire appeared first on CityAM.
