Mixed reaction on EU vote with Banbury businesses

In a recent poll, 61.9 per cent of the members voted for Britain remaining a member of the EU, with 38.1 per cent being in favour of leaving.

But when asked if they thought their businesses would be better or worse off by leaving the EU, 54 per cent said they thought they would be better off by leaving with 45.24 per cent said they would be worse off.

Malcolm Nutt, chairman of the Banbury Chamber of Commerce said: “The feeling about staying in the European Union was pretty strong, although members are obviously less sure about the effects if it was decided that we should leave.

“This is accounted for by the fact that some of our members trade locally and others deal directly with EU countries, so there is a wide variance of opinion on this.

“I think the result shows just how difficult the decision will be for people in business if and when we get to an in-out referendum.”

Members who thought businesses would be better off by leaving the EU felt that savings from Britain’s payments to the EU could benefit them by more money being made available to British firms and that there would be great benefits from having less red tape.

Those who thought they would be worse off were those companies who traded directly within the EU or with other companies who were linked to the EU business scene.

They thought that they would be worse off because of higher export costs when dealing in Europe.