Billionaire businessman Peter Hargreaves is trying to buy our politics.

The co-founder of stockbroking giant Hargreaves Lansdown is one of Britain’s richest men. He’s also the single biggest donor to any EU referendum campaign, funding the Leave campaign to the tune of £3.2 million.

Why? Because, he says, a Brexit will make the UK insecure again -- “and insecurity is fantastic.”

Insecurity may be fantastic for super-rich businessmen who can use it to profit from a ready pool of low paid workers with few rights, but for ordinary people, it means the difference between paying the bills or not.

Peter Hargreaves: stop trying to buy our politics!

Hargreaves’ outrageous comments don’t stop at praising “fantastic” insecurity -- whatever the consequences for ordinary people’s jobs and finances. He has also said a Brexit would help the UK to become more like Singapore, one of the world’s most unequal countries, which has been slammed by human rights organisations for its record on workers’ rights.

The super-rich in Britain already have huge power -- both financial and political. They have easy access to our elected representatives, the power to donate huge sums to political parties and the power to wield their corporate might to influence policy in their favour.

Now one of Britain’s richest men is using that power to try to buy the result of the EU referendum, essentially saying he wants to stack the odds even more firmly against ordinary people.

Millions of workers’ lives, livelihoods and rights -- from parental leave to protection from discrimination -- could be fundamentally affected by the result of the EU referendum. We may not have Hargreaves’ financial clout but, as a community, we do have the power to put huge pressure on him, and tell him to stop meddling in our politics. Let’s protect our democracy from corporate interests.

Let’s tell Peter Hargreaves to stop funding the Leave campaign, and stop trying to buy our politics.