Without 'significant' reforms Britain should quit EU, says actor Caine

Sir Michael Caine believes Britain should leave the EU unless there are "extremely significant" reforms.

The veteran actor said the consequences of a so-called Brexit were "scary" but so were those of being "dictated to by thousands of faceless civil servants".

Asked which camp he would back in the in/out referendum, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I don't know what to vote for. Both are scary.

"To me, you've now got in Europe a sort of government-by-proxy of everybody, who has now got carried away.

"Unless there is some extremely significant changes, we should get out."

Pressed on his preference, he said: "I sort of feel certain we should come out."

Pro-EU campaigners might be right that Britain could "fail" outside the EU, he suggested, but insisted the country would recover.

"Well, OK, so you fail. Get better, work harder, try harder and you'll be a success.

"But you cannot be dictated to by thousands of faceless civil servants who make these rules.

"Then they argue about it financially but we buy more from them than we sell to them."

Sir Michael, who has said in the past that he has no fixed party allegiance and voted for Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and David Cameron, said his rise from a working-class background to Hollywood millionaire gave him a rare perspective.

"I'm a middle-of-the-road politician. I have been poor, I have been on the dole, I have worked in factories and I am a multi-millionaire, I have paid heavy taxes. So I know every problem from every angle and not many people are like that.

"The last time I queued up for benefits, Sean Connery was two guys in front of me."