CBI director-general: benefits of EU membership outweigh the disadvantages
A leading business group has made a major push in favour of Britain’s European Union membership.
In a new report published today, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), set out its case for the UK remaining in a “reformed” EU.
The CBI argued that the EU provides British firms with multiple advantages, including more customers for business, with a single market of 500m consumers. The group also said that the single market affords the UK more international investment, increased access to skills training, and lower prices of goods and services for British customers.
But CBI director-general John Cridland also acknowledged that the EU “must work better” in the future.
“The CBI speaks for 190,000 firms of all sizes, in every sector and in every corner of the UK, and most of our companies want the UK to be in a reformed EU,” Cridland said. “For business the benefits of full membership outweigh the disadvantages, but the EU must work better.”
Cridland said that the “burden of regulation on smaller firms in particular still needs tackling” and urged Prime Minister David Cameron to “push for reform to make the whole of the EU more competitive in the global economy”.