Business managers and owners want to stay in the EU

MORE than three-quarters of business managers and owners want the UK to stay in the European Union and fear that leaving could damage the economy, according to research conducted by Birmingham-based private equity house Key Capital Partners.
 
KCP’s Growth Panel, a survey of company bosses from across a range of sectors, revealed that businesses are concerned that free trade will disappear and that increased red tape will slow down business.
 
Businesses currently benefit from universal regulations from country to country in the EU but this could change if the UK leaves. Quitting the EU would also mean all foreign staff would require work permits, making it difficult for businesses to hire quickly.
 
Carl Birch, sales and marketing director at Shropshire-based manufacturer Wells Plastics, said:  “As a company with an extensive, established European customer base it is critical that we are brought closer together as trading partners rather than separated. The purpose of the EU is to provide a harmonisation of rules and regulations, resulting in a better platform for free movement within the member states for trade, people and capital.
 
“Companies from outside the EU who manufacture and who currently use the UK as a base for manufacture will have a diminished incentive to invest in the UK if we were to withdraw, with obvious significant economic repercussions.”
 
Owen Trotter, managing partner of Key Capital Partners, said: “Membership of the European Union is a very divisive issue. The survey shows that this is a concern for businesses, the majority of which focus on the benefits that being an EU member bring. The EU is the UK’s largest trading partner so it is only natural that businesses should be concerned about a possible exit.”
 
Key Capital Partner’s Growth Panel is a quarterly survey of business owners and managers in all regions the UK.

David Cameron has promised a referendum on the UK’s future membership of the European Union in 2015.