THE EU DEBATE: South Essex business leaders give their views on Brexit

At the beginning of the year, a poll of 2,200 business leaders by the British Chambers of Commerce found 60 per cent wanted to stay compared to 30 per cent wanting to leave, though this had dwindled to 54 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, by this month.

Similarly, the Confederation of British Industry’s poll of 773 of its members showed an overwhelming 80 per cent backing remain and only five per cent backing leave.

The polls give the impression big business backs Brexit, as it makes it easier to trade with Britain's major partners, but the impression from talking to south Essex's major business leaders is far more cautious.

Many of those the Echo spoke to were either keeping quiet until the results of the referendum were announced on June 24, or were on the fence.

These included Stobart Aviation, which owns Southend Airport, as well as Basildon-based firms Ford Dunton, New Holland Agriculture, which refused to comment, and financial transaction processor First Data, which like many ordinary voters was still making up its mind.

UK general manager Keith Rowling said: “Like many other international organisations, operating both within and outside the EU, we have formed an internal working group that is considering the possible business-related implications of this referendum.”

For smaller businesses, however, it became difficult to find anyone in favour of remaining in the EU overall - though some were divided between their business and personal interests.

Adventure Island owner Philip Miller, 61, for example, is a strong backer of the Vote Leave campaign, even though he admitted free movement of people within the EU has been good for his business.

He said: “The EU has been very good for us in business, our biggest source of new customer is from the EU. If you walk along the seafront, you could think you’re on holiday because of all the foreign voices being spoken.

“But although we’ve got rides from Italy, Germany, and Holland, whether we were in the EU or not, we would still have those rides - they would still sell them to us.

“And keeping the pound has been quite good because, more often than not, when we’ve bought from abroad the pound has been strong and the Euro has been weak.

“When people are desperate to trade, nothing is going to stop them trading.”

One of his reasons for backing leave would be something we would hear again and again from small businesses - red tape.

He said: “We’re lucky because we’re an established business and I didn’t have to worry about it all those years ago but the amount of red tape that has come out of Europe is unimaginable.

“In my first year of business, I worked every day except Christmas Day, but even with the effort I put in I wouldn’t be able to put up with the bureaucracy if I was starting out today.”

Kris Sale, of Sale Appliances, in London Road, Westcliff, said his mother lives in Majorca, but business concerns meant he was backing leave.

He said: “It’s hard to split your business and personal life but you have to do what puts food on the table and EU regulations come into that - we’re not even allowed powerful vacuum cleaners anymore.”

'EU red tape cost me my business'

A BUSINESSMAN has blamed confusing European red tape for costing him his company.

Richard Debenham, 64, pointed the finger at EU regulations after his Hadleigh-based business, Elevation Lift Services, was bought out by Otis Elevator in November after 23 years of trading.

He said: “We were faced with a raft of measures that came out of Brussels and one of them, the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, meant every time you tendered for a local authority job you had to go through it, but it was so complicated none of us understood it.

“We had to call in specialists to fill in the form, which cost £2,000 to £3,000 a time. That caused massive problems and the three years after it was introduced were probably the hardest years of our business.

“Big firms which support the EU have the means to have a department for these things, so we ended up losing a lot of contracts, and the big guys got in.”

Sandra Durant, 50, of GMP Mowers and Tools in Canvey High Street had similar reasons for backing leave.

She said: “When selling weed killers, they change every year, because the EU says you can’t sell them anymore because they’re a controlled substance.

“We’re not allowed to sell traditional mothballs anymore for the same reason. There are so many little rules and regulations that I don’t think most people are aware of - and I think we would be better off going back to basics with independence.”