THE former boss of Marks and Spencer Lord Stuart Rose will head the campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union.
The Conservative was unveiled as chair of the In Campaign ahead of its official launch on Monday and said the UK was "stronger in Europe" and to leave the EU would be a "leap into the unknown".
The In Campaign said Lord Rose would take up the position with immediate effect.
Conservative, Labour and UKIP MPs have launched a cross-party campaign to take the UK out of the EU.
David Cameron has promised a referendum on the issue by the end of 2017.
Lord Rose said: “I believe that Britain is stronger in Europe.
“The choice in the coming referendum is between remaining stronger, safer and better off inside Europe, or taking a leap into the unknown, risking our prosperity, threatening our safety, and diminishing our influence in the world.
"“I believe the case for Britain to remain in the EU is clear. So I'm delighted to join the In Campaign's board as Chair, and I look forward to introducing the rest of the board at our campaign event on Monday."
Lord Rose spent seven years at M&S as chief executive and chairman and is expected to make the business case for Britain remaining in the EU. He is currently chairman of Ocado, FatFace and Oasis Dental Care.
Fellow Tory member of the House of Lords, former Chancellor Lord Lawson, is leading the Conservative campaign to leave the EU.
On Friday a cross party group of donors and politicians launched the “Vote Leave” campaign, while the rival “Leave EU”, backed by UKIP leader Nigel Farage, was unveiled last month.
A third campaign group, Business for Britain, is focusing on putting the economic case for leaving the EU.
The announcement about Lord Rose comes as David Cameron met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss his renegotiation strategy.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here