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Nigel Farage: PM has cosied up with ‘big mates’ from rich banks to stitch up EU vote. Greg Heffer Express.

NIGEL FARAGE today accused the Prime Minister of cosying up to his “big mates” from the world’s richest banks in order to sway the EU referendum in his favour. David Cameron has spent this week at an exclusive summit between business leaders and politicians at the posh Davos ski resort in Switzerland.

Delivering a keynote speech yesterday, Mr Cameron pleaded with those business leaders attending the World Economic Forum to “play a big role” in supporting his campaign for Britain to remain in a reformed EU.

The Tory leader is widely-expected to urge Britons to vote to remain tied to Brussels at the upcoming in/out referendum, once he has been granted a deal on his renegotiation of the UK’s membership of the 28-country bloc.

But Mr Farage claimed that “rather than addressing the problems” with the EU, the Prime Minister had instead been focussing on getting his “big corporate mates” to fund the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU.

This week investment bank Goldman Sachs was reported to have donated a “substantial six-figure sum” to the pro-Brussels ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ group chaired by former Marks & Spencer boss Lord Rose.

Fellow banking giant JP Morgan was also said to have handed a cheque for hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Lord Rose campaign.

Mr Cameron attended the Davos summit to help push his case for EU reform with other European leaders, before travelling to Prague to meet Czech president Milos Zeman today.

But asked what the Prime Minister was likely to have achieved from his trip in his long-running efforts to reform Britain’s relationship with the EU, Mr Farage quipped: “Three-fifths of five-eighths of very little.” Speaking on his LBC Radio ‘Phone Farage’ show, the Ukip leader said the only success Mr Cameron had was to get “his big corporate mates” to say ”we’re going to back you Prime Minister”.

He added: “Already this week Goldman Sachs have announced a big donation to the keep Britain in the EU campaign, JP Morgan have decided they’re going to put a big lump of money into keeping us part of the EU.

“He’s with his big mates in Davos who will shove millions into his campaign to keep us into the EU.

“And what you’ve got here is the unholy alliance of the big banks and big politics.

“Those very same big banks that behaved appallingly and had to be bailed out back in 2008. 

“They’re going to tell us what to do in the future and my advice is we should ignore them.