Gerard Lyons urges government to "pursue global agenda"

"The UK needs to pursue a global agenda", Boris Johnson's economic adviser will say at the annual conference of the British Bankers' Association on Thursday.

Gerard Lyons, who is also a former chief economist of Standard Chartered, believes the UK has "nothing to fear" from leaving the European Union (EU), but that it must achieve "significant" reform if it is to avoid becoming a "little European", the Sunday Telegraph reported.

In comments given ahead of this week's event, Lyons said: "If the EU does not reform significantly then the choice is between becoming a little European of a global Britain - a choice between a Little Europe that is inward looking, insular, as the EU's share of the world's economy shrinks; or a global Britain, trading with the whole world, including Europe; negotiating our own, better-suited trade deals with a focus on what the UK is good at.

"Europe's economic model is backward looking, with high rates of unemployment. That is why it must reform.

"The UK needs to pursue a global agenda - and the issue is whether it is able to do that in a reformed EU or whether it needs to pursue that approach outside."