
It was a hot topic at this year’s National Manufacturing Conference, and with voting on the UK’s membership of the European Union to be held on 23 June 2016, the EU referendum debate is set to rage on for several months. With two surveys carried out in August 2015 showing that growth in the UK manufacturing sector has slowed, with both new orders and output increasing less rapidly than before, will opting out of the EU help or hinder the manufacturing industry? Let’s look at some of the arguments for and against Britain staying in the EU from a trade prospective…