Brexit could risk tourists' safety and push up flight prices, say top travel figures

Two top travel industry figures have warned that Britain leaving the EU could risk tourists’ safety and push up flight prices.

Less than a week before a crunch Brussels summit on David Cameron’s renegotiation package, the easyJet chief, Carolyn McCall, suggested a Brexit could herald a return to the days when flying was “reserved for the elite”.

Meanwhile, Peter Long, former boss of the Tui travel group which owns Thomson and First Choice, said close cooperation with other EU states was essential to “protect the security of our holidaymakers”.

Five previously Eurosceptic Labour figures, including shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, have thrown their weight behind Cameron’s deal. In an open letter, they said the EU was “not perfect” but leaving would be a “huge risk”.

Writing in the Sunday Times, McCall said: “The EU has brought huge benefits for UK travellers and businesses. Staying in the EU will ensure that they, and all of us, continue to receive them.

“How much you pay for your holiday really does depend on how much influence Britain has in Europe.”

McCall argued that before the EU overhauled aviation in the 1990s, flying was reserved for the elite who travelled on “government-owned airlines between state-controlled airports”.

“As a result of Britain’s membership, the costs of flights have plummeted, while the range of destinations has soared. That’s why easyJet believes the benefits far outweigh the frustrations – and why the UK is better off as part of the EU,” she said.

Long, who was in charge of Tui when dozens of its customers were killed by an Islamist gunman in Tunisia last year, insisted that close cooperation with other EU countries was essential.

He said witnessing the “human tragedy” after the Tunisian massacre gave him “many first-hand experiences of seeing how European governments, through their foreign offices, collaborate and work together in a crisis”.

“It would not be like that if we weren’t in a situation where we were as Europe working together,” he wrote in the newspaper.

Long, now chairman of Royal Mail, also cautioned that Brexit would cause the value of the pound to slump.

“For our customers, that means higher holiday prices and less spending money,” he added.

Alongside Benn, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, ex-home secretary David Blunkett, former foreign secretary Jack Straw and MP Margaret Beckett also backed the prime minister in their letter printed in the Sunday Mirror. All five campaigned against remaining in Europe in the 1975 referendum.

But they said: “Our concern then was that membership would mean a one-way loss of sovereignty and investment. This has proved unfounded.

“The conclusion of the renegotiation will hopefully strengthen this relationship as we make the progressive case for Britain in Europe.

“Leaving would be a huge risk to prosperity, security and the opportunities of future generations. The EU is not perfect and improvement is always worth making, but the benefits outweigh the costs.”

Liam Fox, the Eurosceptic former cabinet minister, accused Downing Street of “scaremongering”.

“Those that wish to remain in the EU should make the positive case for the supranational European project rather than frightening people,” he said.

Fox, whom Cameron had tasked with taking the referendum legislation through the House of Lords has also announced he would be voting to leave the EU.

Lord Dobbs, creator of the hit political drama House of Cards, dismissed the prime minister’s renegotiation as “a mouse that barely squeaks, let alone roars”.

As the sides in the campaign begin to gear up for an attritional four-month run-up to the likely referendum date of 23 June, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, has voiced support for Britain staying in the EU.

Kerry said it was “profoundly” in US interests that the UK voted to remain in the union.

In his last big speech before the Brussels summit, the prime minister told an audience in Hamburg on Friday night that Europe had to “stand together” against threats such as Islamic State and Russian aggression.

He also appealed for Germany’s help in finalising his package of reforms, stressing the countries’ shared interests and values.