JK Rowling, Branson throw weight behind remain campaign in Brexit referendum

JK Rowling, the creator of the famous Harry Potter series, was among prominent personalities to back the Brexit referendum remain campaign on Monday by posting a 1,700 word plea on her social media site.

In her essay "On Monsters, Villains and the EU Referendum," Rowling said: "I'm not an expert on much, but I do know how to create a monster."

"Remainers insist that we retain border control and that we need immigration, not least because so many of our medical staff running the NHS come from abroad," she wrote.

"Leave has been busy threatening us with another monster: a tsunami of faceless foreigners heading for our shores, among them rapists and terrorists. The tales we have been told during this referendum have been uglier than any I can remember in my lifetime," she added.

"In a few days' time, we'll have to decide which monsters we believe are real and which illusory. Everything is going to come down to whose story we like best, but at the moment we vote, we stop being readers and become authors. The ending of this story, whether happy or not, will be written by us," she said.

Bosses in a number of Britain's leading industries, including Sir Richard Branson, backed Remain Monday ahead of Thursday's EU vote when 43 million Britons will decide whether to stay in the EU or leave.

Branson commented: "I'm very fearful that if Britain loses the market of 500 million people that it will be catastrophic for Britain."

"I think we'll find the pound will plummet, stocks markets will collapse and that will inevitably have a knock-on effect on pensions, a knock-on effect on jobs so I'm hoping that sense will prevail on Thursday," he said.

Top flight clubs in England's football premier league, also support remain. Premier League chair Richard Scudamore said all 20 clubs in the top tier league want to remain, saying leaving would be "incongruous."

The car industry trade body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which represents the automobile industry in Britain, also warned leaving the EU would increase costs and threaten jobs.

Car manufacturers Toyota UK, Vauxhall, Jaguar Land Rover and BMW, all back Britain staying in the EU. Between them they employ tens of thousands of workers.

Back on the campaign trail, research published by Vote Leave Monday claimed an EU tax bombshell would cost each household in Britain several thousands pounds.

"The EU has made no secret of its plans to abolish the UK's zero and reduced rates of value added tax (VAT)," claimed Leave, saying official figures from the British tax commissioners show the revenue raised if lower VAT did not exist would have been 71.3 billion pounds (104.76 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015-2016, amounting to 2,649 pounds per household.

Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "We should have the power to set our own tax rates in this country rather than being told what to do by the EU. It is an affront to democracy and it directly impacts on British families." Enditem