'Companies will quit Britain if we vote to leave the EU': Leaked tape of Theresa May talking to bankers before the referendum reveals what the PM REALLY thinks of Brexit 

• e-mail

Theresa May told bankers before the referendum that firms would leave the UK if the country voted for Brexit, a previously unheard recording has revealed.

A month before the EU referendum, the then-home secretary told an audience that leaving the single market would threaten jobs.

Speaking to investment bankers at Goldman Sachs, she said that global companies would think twice about investing in the UK if we left.

Theresa May warned that companies would leave Britain if it voted to leave the EU while giving a private audience at investment bank Goldman Sachs in London (pictured) on May 26

The comments, revealed in the Guardian, are stronger than her more nuanced public position during the referendum campaign.

Although she was a Remain supporter, No 10 was worried about her lukewarm support for EU membership.

Downing Street sought to play down the remarks today, insisting Mrs May had said during the campaign that there were 'opportunities and risks' to leaving the EU.

'The Prime Minister is focused now on making sure it is the opportunities that we seize,' Mrs May's spokeswoman said. 

But Labour said it represented 'cast-iron evidence' of how ministers had been two-faced over cutting ties with Brussels.

Shadow minister Andrew Gwynne said: 'As if we needed it, this recording is cast-iron evidence of how Theresa May and other senior Tories have been saying one thing in private about the economic impact of Brexit, and another in the comfort of Tory conference halls.

'It's plain that she recognises what a disaster it would be for Britain to lose access to the Single Market, so why doesn't she be honest with the British people and say how she plans to retain it?'

Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer was among the political opponents seizing on the video of Theresa May

Aides to Mrs May, seen leaving for PMQs in the Commons today, have insisted she is determined to make a success of Brexit

The recording reveals Mrs May had numerous concerns about Britain leaving the EU. She appeared to go further than her public remarks to explain more clearly the economic benefits of staying in the EU when speaking at the bank in London on 26 May.

She told staff the UK should be taking a lead in Europe, and that she hoped voters would look to the future rather than the past.

She also worried about the effect of Brexit on the British economy in the hour-long session before the City bankers. 'I think the economic arguments are clear,' she said. 'I think being part of a 500-million trading bloc is significant for us.

She said at the Conservative party conference (pictured) she wanted to prioritise reducing immigration over being part of the single market

'I think, as I was saying to you a little earlier, that one of the issues is that a lot of people will invest here in the UK because it is the UK in Europe.

'If we were not in Europe, I think there would be firms and companies who would be looking to say, do they need to develop a mainland Europe presence rather than a UK presence? So I think there are definite benefits for us in economic terms.' Mrs May also told the bankers she was convinced it was best for Britain's security to remain in Europe because of tools such as the European arrest warrant.

Last night's disclosures could prove embarrassing for the Prime Minister.

Her warning about the importance of the UK's membership of the EU contrasts her position in recent weeks.

She said at the Tory party conference she wanted to prioritise reducing immigration over being in the single market.

A No 10 spokesman said: 'Britain made a clear choice to vote to leave the EU and this government is determined to make a success of the fresh opportunities it presents.

'David Davis made very clear in the House of Commons last week the importance the government places on financial services across the UK in the negotiation to come, as has the Chancellor in recent weeks.'

Last night Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: 'It is disappointing that Theresa May lacked the political courage to warn the British public as she did a a group of bankers in private about the devastating economic effects of Brexit.

'But far more disappointing is that now she is supposedly in charge, she is blithely ignoring her own dire warnings and is prepared to inflict an act of monumental self-harm on the UK economy by pulling Britain out of the single market.

'She is doing so purely to satisfy the uncaring, divisive and extremist voices around her own Cabinet table.

'In Richmond Park voters will have the opportunity to say 'no' to that cynicism, by voting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united.'