British actor Michael Caine backed a British exit from the European Union, saying he no longer wanted to be “dictated to by thousands of faceless civil servants.”
The 82-year-old Oscar winner told BBC Radio 4 on Friday he was “pretty certain” that Britain should cut its ties with Brussels.
When asked how he would vote in the referendum on EU membership, Caine said both options were “scary.” But he added: “To me you’ve now got in Europe a sort of government by proxy of everybody who has now got carried away and I think unless there are some extremely significant changes we should get out.”
On the same radio program, Michael Howard, a former leader of the Conservative party, said he had “a lot of sympathy” with Caine’s comments.
“I have always wanted the United Kingdom to remain in a genuinely reformed European Union … It is not looking very likely, I have to say, that we are going to see a genuinely reformed European Union,” Howard said.
Euroskeptics, including MEPs Daniel Hannan and Nigel Farage, tweeted their approval at Caine’s comments.
My name is Michael Caine. And I've had enough of being told what to do by faceless Eurocrats. @vote_leave #VoteLeave pic.twitter.com/1j16q9jSLA
— Daniel Hannan (@DanHannanMEP) January 22, 2016
I welcome @themichaelcaine's support for #Brexit. Let's blow the bloody doors off! https://t.co/uTIYyeRGA8
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) January 22, 2016