Britain’s manufacturers remain overwhelmingly in favour of remaining within the EU according to a survey published in September 2014 by EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation.

According to the survey, published today, 85 per cent of manufacturers would vote to stay in the EU, with a further 8 per cent saying ‘don’t know’. In contrast, only 7 per cent of companies would vote to pull out of the EU.

The vote is split fairly evenly across companies of all sizes, although the most positive support for staying in the EU comes from companies with greater than 250 employees, where 90 per cent would vote to stay in and not a single company would vote to come out.

These figures are in line with the last poll EEF carried out in September 2013 and come in spite of the continued economic problems of the Eurozone.  Commenting, EEF Chief Executive, Terry Scuoler, said:

“Despite the continued challenges faced by the Eurozone, manufacturers remain overwhelmingly of the view that our economic wellbeing is inextricably linked to the EU and, we must stay in membership. “It makes no sense to disengage from our major market. We can achieve reform by being an active member. It remains fanciful to think we can just pull up the drawbridge and walk away with no consequences.”

In the EEF white paper Manufacturing Our future in Europe, available here, the unequivocal answer from Britain’s manufacturers is yes. They are clear that the UK’s relationship with the EU, its effectiveness and the UK’s ability to influence its priorities, all play an important role in building the better balanced economy we all want to see.

Manufacturers are not the only part of our economy that will have a view on our relationship with the EU, but their perspective is an important one. Industry will play a key role in delivering the increased exports, new products and services and more skilled jobs that our economy needs.

They believe that being part of the EU can help them to do this and that the EU could do this job a lot better. As an outward looking, open economy we want the UK to continue to be a magnet for investment; we want our companies to compete with the best in the world and we want our industrial base to develop and sell the solutions to tomorrow’s challenges to the rest of the world.

The advantages that EU membership provides in terms of access to markets, efforts to level the playing field, free movement of people, access to partners and funding for greater levels of innovation, all feature in the responses of our members. They are clear that a strong voice on the world stage matters not just to manufacturers, but to our long-term economic prospects as a country and as a global trading nation.

Critics rightly point to areas where the EU is getting it wrong. Too much regulation, inefficient decision-making and an expensive and expansive bureaucracy. This can and must be fixed. In playing our part in fixing the problems we can deliver a better deal for the UK. A deal that builds on the policies that support sustainable growth in our economy for the long-term and reform of the areas that simply do not.

The potential prize for the UK economy of getting this right is significant. Completing the single market; a systematic attack on red tape; pressing ahead with trade and investment deals that open up new markets around the world. All could deliver billions of pounds of benefits to the UK.

The UK economy is closely connected to Europe, so let us focus on making it the strongest it can be.