EU referendum – in or out? What ACE member companies say (for now)

Peter Campbell
23 July 2015

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The EU will be a defining issue of this parliament. Peter Campbell, ACE’s senior policy manager, reports on the results of a recent poll of members on the topic.

With the government promising an ‘In-Out’ referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union no later than the end of 2017, ACE felt it was time to take the temperature of its membership on the issue. It will be important in the coming months to know where they would wish ACE to plant its flag if the organisation is to represent their interests effectively.

"It is clear that those ACE members surveyed believe that the UK must remain part of the EU and work with other EU members to restructure and reform it. " - Gavin English

The key results indicate that while over 85 per cent of members felt that EU institutions were in need of reform, and over 57 per cent were concerned about the effect of a proposed referendum on their business, substantial majorities were in favour of remaining in the union.

In the ideal scenario where the Prime Minister secures reforms and proposes remaining in over 81 per cent would vote to stay in, while if Mr Cameron were to fail in his efforts and campaign to leave, over 58 per cent would still prefer to remain in.

Commenting on this, Gavin English, chair of ACE’s International Business Group said: “It is clear that those ACE members surveyed believe that the UK must remain part of the EU and work with other EU members to restructure and reform it. Clearly, the fear is that if the UK leaves the EU we could become a peripheral country on the edge of Europe, damaging British business and hampering our ability to attract inward investment and employment.”

"ACE will be focusing on whether the UK gets value for money from EU membership; whether the UK engineering sector is getting fair access to European markets; and if the EU has provided the right conditions for a stable market.” - Nelson Ogunshakin

This was borne out in the results seen when members were asked if the UK’s membership of the EU was important or not to their business and the industry as a whole. Just under 63 and 65 per cent felt it was ‘important’ or ‘very important’, while only 25 and 16 per cent felt it was ‘unimportant’ or ‘very unimportant’

Mr English further said: “The EU combined market dwarfs the US and China and it is the UK's biggest trading partner. Being a part of a reformed EU provides a great opportunity for the UK engineering industry to grow our global trade with the rest of the world.”

On the issue of what, if any, role the ACE should play in the upcoming campaign, those surveyed first of all said it should play a part by a margin of 74  to 26 per cent, and secondly that it should campaign to remain in the EU by 81to 19 per cent.

 “These results, while indicative of what ACE’s membership thinks, could be fairly volatile owing to the sample size and so should be treated carefully,” said ACE chief executive Nelson Ogunshakin.

He continued: “Going forward, ACE will be focusing on ensuring that satisfactory answers to three key questions are obtained: whether the UK gets value for money from EU membership; whether the UK engineering sector is getting fair access to European markets; and if the EU has provided the right conditions for a stable market.”

A sample size of around eight per cent of ACE members was obtained, with a wide range of geographic spread and company size. The membership was asked about how important the EU is to their business and the sector, the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU, and the role (if any) ACE should play in the upcoming campaign.