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Thank you, it鈥檚 great to be here with you here in Luton, and I am a proud easyJet passenger. You鈥檝e flown me actually all over Europe: Portugal, Majorca, France, Spain, and almost always on time, although I have to admit that I鈥檓 not always on time. Actually, as I drove in here this morning, I remember once when I missed a flight altogether and had a lovely night in the Ibis hotel on the way into the airport. So I鈥檝e let you down more often than you鈥檝e let me down.

But it is actually, funnily enough, interesting point: very few people have I stopped on the street to tell them that I think that they鈥檝e done an amazing thing, but actually your founder is one of them. I did do that once, because I think easyJet was a fantastic creation. And today, with whatever it is: 800 routes, 70 million passengers, supporting around 10,000 jobs in our country, this is a fantastic great British success story. So it is a pleasure to be here, talking to you about this vital issue and taking your questions.

Because on 23 June, we鈥檝e got to make a really big decision for the future of our country. General elections are important, of course I believe that, but actually I think this is more important than a general election. If you don鈥檛 like the result of a general election, 5 years later you can make a different decision and have a different team running the country. Obviously not something I鈥檓 looking forward to, but nonetheless that鈥檚 the way the system works.

But this is a really big choice about Britain, and I鈥檓 arguing very clearly that we are safer if we stay in, because we can fight terrorism better if we鈥檙e part of this team. I think we鈥檒l be stronger, because I think Britain gains from being in these organisations rather than losing by being in them. But crucially, I think we鈥檒l be better off. And it鈥檚 not a complicated argument to make. It鈥檚 because we鈥檙e part of a market of 500 million people; the biggest single market anywhere in the world. And that is good for jobs, it鈥檚 good for companies, it鈥檚 good for investment, it brings businesses here to Britain. It means great businesses like this one can expand throughout the single market. It鈥檚 good for our economy, and so if we were to leave, it would be bad for our economy. It would mean less growth, it would mean fewer jobs, it would mean higher prices. It would mean, as we set out yesterday, a recession for our economy. So we鈥檙e better off if we stay in this organisation.

And it鈥檚 not a static thing, because of course the single market is still expanding. It鈥檚 good we鈥檝e got a single market in aviation; that has massively helped your business. I can remember days, I鈥檓 old enough to remember, when flying off on holiday meant getting on a sort of state owned aeroplane and going to a state owned airport in another country, and paying a very high price for it. And as Carolyn has said, prices have come down 40% since the single market has come about, and since the radical transformation that companies like easyJet have brought about.

So I鈥檓 quite convinced that when it comes to this economic argument, we are better off if we stay in and we鈥檙e worse off if we leave. And as I said, it鈥檚 not static, because the single market is going to go into energy, it鈥檚 going to go into digital, where we鈥檙e a real leader, and it鈥檚 going to go further into services industries, which actually make up 80% of our economy. So for those reasons I think we鈥檒l be better off.

And today we鈥檙e talking about some quite specific things, some quite 鈥榬etail鈥� things, if you like, which is what would happen to the cost of a holiday if we were to leave. If we were to leave, and the pound were to fall, which is what most people expect and what the Treasury forecast, that would put up the cost of a typical holiday for a family of 4 to a European destination by 拢230. It could, as Carolyn has said, put up actually the cost of air travel, because if you鈥檙e outside the single market, which is what those who want us to leave think, then you鈥檇 face all sorts of bureaucracy and restrictions that you don鈥檛 face today.

Another very retail thing that is happening in Europe, and there are a few people with mobile phones right now 鈥� don鈥檛 worry, film away, this is all live anyway. We鈥檙e abolishing roaming charges in the European Union. It鈥檚 one of the most annoying things: you鈥檙e on holiday, you use your mobile phone, you get an enormous bill. Getting rid of roaming charges could mean on a 10 minute call back to the UK, you鈥檙e saving almost 拢4 on that 10 minute call. So I think there鈥檚 some very strong retail arguments about the cost of a holiday, the cost of food, the cost of using your phone, for staying in the European Union.

Now, before I take your questions, I just want to make one other argument, because I think in this debate it鈥檚 very important to talk about the specifics, and we have, about jobs and prices and costs of holidays and costs of phone calls. But there is also, in my view, a bigger argument. I don鈥檛 believe those people who say, 鈥榃ell, my head says we ought to stay in the European Union but my heart says somehow, we would be a prouder and more patriotic country if we were outside.鈥� I don鈥檛 think that is right. I think this is an amazing country. We are the fifth biggest economy in the world. We鈥檝e done great things in this world. We鈥檙e a very interconnected country. What happens on the other side of the world matters to us. We care about tackling climate change; we care about trying to alleviate poverty in Africa; we know we need to have the world鈥檚 trade lanes open for British business and enterprise. And I absolutely believe, if you want a big, bold, strong United Kingdom, then you want to be in organisations like a reformed European Union, rather than outside of them. Britain is part of the G7, we鈥檙e part of the G20, we鈥檙e part of NATO, which helps to keep our defences strong. We are a very important part of the Commonwealth, which brings about a third of humanity together in one organisation. And we鈥檙e members of the European Union. Being in these organisations doesn鈥檛 diminish our standing and our strength in the world, in my view. It enhances it. So I think the big, bold, patriotic case is to stay in a reformed European Union, to fight for the sort of world that we want, rather than to stand back and be on the outside.

And in a way, that鈥檚 sort of what easyJet has done. Here you are, a British based business, but a business that has decided to take on the world in terms of being competitive, running routes all over Europe and beyond, and recognising that is in your interests, your passengers鈥� interests, your shareholders鈥� interests, all the people in this room鈥檚 interests.

And that鈥檚 my argument about Britain: let鈥檚 be the big, bold strong Britain inside the reformed European Union rather than voting to leave, and that鈥檚 the case I鈥檓 going to make every day between now and 23 June, with just under a month to go.