Member Article

UK businesses reject exiting the EU

British businesses would not support an exit from the EU, according to a survey by market research firm Ipsos Mori.

More than 100 executive directors and chairmen from the UK’s top 500 companies and leading financial institutions took part in the research between September and December.

Only 1% of British business leaders would support the polticial move mainly due to the ease of cross-border trading within the European Union.

Despite this, Captains of Industry dislike the regulations that come with being part of the EU.

The leading business advantages they see are the ease of cross-border trading (46%), ease of access to EU customers (41%) and being part of the single market (40%). Recruitment is made easier too for one in three Captains (34%) with no need for visas for EU workers.

The disadvantages of EU membership cited by the research include: the volume of regulations (52%) and the changes to regulations (55%), which top the table of disadvantages.

However, the EU’s economic outlook also makes it into the top three with just under half (46%) of Captain’s citing this as a concern.

Matthew Chatterton, director at Ipsos Mori, was quoted as saying: “Britain’s business leaders either want things to continue much as they are now or, if anything, in a slightly more ‘light touch’ way,” he said.

“What they don’t like is too much regulation coming from Europe but what they do like is access to the single market.

“They like being able to reach customers across Europe, they like being able to trade across borders and uncertainty about whether they might lose that is what makes them nervous.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .