Shropshire businesses back staying in European Union

Almost three quarters of bosses questioned said their business would suffer if Britain pulled out of Europe.

The hot-button topic has been the cause of huge debate in recent months, and depending on the choice of government at the next election there may be a referendum over the issue to come before the end of the decade.

But after the latest Quarterly Economic Survey from Shropshire Chamber of Commerce demonstrated that the majority of local businesses oppose a complete split from Brussels, in favour of repatriation of certain powers, members of the business community say they want membership to continue.

The Chamber's survey revealed 72.9 per cent of Shropshire businesses believe that withdrawal from the European Union would have a negative impact on business, while 59.3 per cent say staying in but reclaiming certain powers for the UK government would be a positive step. Chamber chief executive Richard Sheehan said business leaders were concerned that valuable links set up between the region and Europe, which is worth millions of pounds a year in export deals, could be jeopardised.

He said: "As we try to grow our exports – and there's a real desire to double the value and number of exporters in the next few years – we need to ensure we don't have any doors slammed in our faces.

"Being part of the EU does simplify the processes and procedures compared to the likes of South America and Arabic countries, and to have a simplified route to export is a good thing."

Linda Grocott, from Whitchurch haulage firm Grocontinental, said: "There's a lot of emotion around whether to be in Europe or not, but from a business perspective it's got to be better.

"The amount of paperwork and administration to take goods out of the UK was huge, now it is just the same as the UK."

And Nicole Howarth, of Telford freight forwarding firm Global Freight, added: "The EU is a hugely important trading area for the UK, it is unclear how separating from the EU would fundamentally affect those relationships but logic dictates it is better to be part of that club than outside of it."

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