Top firms 'back Britain in Europe'

Tony Blair gave conditional backing to BiE last year

Media reports suggest that the first financial accounts to be filed by the pro-European pressure group, Britain in Europe, will show it has the backing of several of the UK's major companies.

The Financial Times predicts that among the group's cash backers will be such big names as BAe Systems, Unilever, Philips, British American Tobacco, ICL, KPMG, BP and Nestle UK, while British Airways, British Midland have given benefits in kind.

The pressure group has had the public backing of the prime minister and one of its biggest individual donors is said to be the government minister Lord Sainsbury, whom it is believed has contributed about £400,000.

The political debate around the single currency has heated up recently, due to both the approaching general election and the effect of sterling's strength against the euro leading to troubles for the UK's manufacturing industry.

Downing Street 'endorsement'

Unilever and BAe are understood to have given around £100,000 each, while £50,000 came from BAT - whose deputy chairman is Tory former chancellor Kenneth Clarke.

The size of the donations will be published in full within the next fortnight following speculation over the state of the groups finances.

Thursday's FT also quotes an unnamed "insider" at BiE as saying that the organisation's director Simon Buckby "got clearance from Downing Street" to switch BiE's focus from campaigning on the benefits of EU membership to one directed at backing the single currency explicitly.

The direction of policy within the cross-party group has been the source of some internal wrangling.