Almost half of small and medium-sized businesses want Britain to negotiate a looser relationship with the European Union, while staying a member.

Almost half of small and medium-sized businesses want Britain to negotiate a looser relationship with the European Union, while staying a member.

A survey of nearly 2,000 companies by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) finds that only 12 per cent of respondents want to leave the EU altogether, with only 9 per cent of businesses wanting deeper integration.

Of those businesses that want to see a different relationship with Europe, more than half (55 per cent) see a referendum on EU membership as a medium-term issue, to be dealt with in the next one to five years.

Another 40 per cent of those firms would like to see a referendum within the next 12 months.

Commenting on the findings, BCC director general John Longworth says, ‘These results clearly show that British businesses do not want further integration with the EU.

‘Although only a small proportion of firms hold extreme views on whether to leave or stay, nearly half of companies say they want a renegotiated, ‘looser’ membership within the European Union.’

Longworth adds that, nearly four decades after Britain joined the European Community, it is ‘astonishing’ that British firms seem to feel that the balance of advantage of EU membership is lessening.

‘Businesses are pragmatic: they want to be part of a European single market, but only if it delivers real and open access for British goods and services.’

He continues that the political establishment should tread carefully, and avoid rushed political decisions on the shape of Britain’s future relationship with the EU. ‘Instead, both the government and the opposition should carefully consider how we can get a single market that works for business while ensuring that legislation from Brussels doesn’t damage our economic prospects.’

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