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Bill Gates: Britain 'stronger and more influential' in EU

Bill Gates has said Britain is 'stronger' inside the European Union. Credit: Dave Thompson / PA Wire

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said Britain is "stronger, more prosperous and more influential" inside the European Union.

In a letter to The Times the multi-millionaire, who has invested more than a billion dollars in the UK, also warned that after Brexit the UK would be a "significantly less attractive place to do business and invest".

Mr Gates said Britain's EU membership and access to the single market played a role in the decision to place Microsoft's research facilities in Cambridge.

While ultimately a matter for the British people to decide, it is clear to me that if Britain chooses to be outside of Europe, it will be a significantly less attractive place to do business and to invest.

It will be harder to find and recruit the best talent from across the Continent; talent which, in turn, creates jobs for people in the UK.

And, it would be harder to raise the investment needed for public goods such as new medicines and affordable clean energy solutions, for which we need the scale of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and financial backing that the combined strength of the EU provides.

– Bill Gates