Political wrangling over Britain's role in the EU escalated earlier, with the opposition Labour party saying a vote on membership was unlikely this decade if it won power in next year's election, contrasting with Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's promise for an in or out vote by the end of 2017.

Soros, in London to promote his book "The Tragedy of the European Union: Disintegration or Revival?", was asked his view on Britain leaving the 28-member bloc.

"I leave it to the British business community, particularly the multi-nationals that set up factories here as an entry point into the common market, to explain to the British public what they stand to lose, in one word - jobs," Soros told a news conference.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Louise Heavens)