Anti-EU business lobby launches West Midlands campaign
ANTI-EU businesses in the West Midlands have officially launched their campaign to persuade people the UK is better off out of Europe.
The Business for Britain (West Midlands) campaign has been backed by 70 businessmen from across the region.
Campaign organisers said the launch came as the EU was making it harder for firms to create jobs and EU regulation was holding back their businesses.
Business for Britain (West Midlands) said it wanted to see fundamental change in the UK’s relationship with the EU and said it believed that politicians were giving away too much control over the UK’s economy to EU politicians.
The West Midlands regional council, headed by chairman Johnnie Arkwright, owner of Hatton Country World, is aiming to provide a platform for West Midlands businesses to engage in the debate ahead of the EU referendum.
The national Business for Britain movement is backing the Vote Leave campaign – which is championing an independent UK.
Its regional campaign is backed by a new survey from YouGov of SMEs which has found that West Midlands businesses want to see real changes in the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Its findings are:
· 32% of smaller businesses think that the EU is making it harder for them to employ people – compared to just 7% that think it makes it easier.
· 33% of smaller businesses think EU regulation hinders them, while 17% feel it provides help.
· 63% of smaller businesses in the region believe the UK can trade and cooperate with the EU without giving away permanent control over the UK’s economy – compared to 24% that think the single market is good for jobs and living standards.
· 69% of smaller businesses surveyed want the UK to control negotiating trade deals, rather than the EU (20%)
Arkwright said: “More business leaders in the West Midlands feel that the EU is hindering rather than helping them. EU rules are making it more difficult for us to expand and take on new staff.
“We’ve given away too much control over our economy to politicians in Brussels. I want to see powers come back so that we can make rules that are better suited to the needs of businesses in the West Midlands.”
He said he believed that businesses in the region could thrive outside the EU and many felt confident the UK could quit the EU without any ill effects.
Alan Halsall, National Business for Britain co-chairman, said: “As a businessman I know how important it is to keep a tight control over costs, but that doesn’t seem to be something that EU politicians understand. The EU’s accounts haven’t had a clean bill of health for 19 years running – that’s no way to run an organisation which takes more than £1.2bn from the West Midlands every year.
“If we vote to leave in the EU referendum we will be able to spend that money on our priorities here in the UK rather than sending it abroad.”
