UK200Group launches new campaign for clarity ahead of EU referendum

Help for owners of SMEs who are still unclear on how leaving or staying in the EU will affect their businesses.

Aldershot’s UK200Group, the UK’s leading membership association of quality-assured independent chartered accountancy and law firms, is seeking to provide unbiased guidance to the SME community — a group whose importance to the UK economy cannot be understated.

Collectively, the UK200Group’s members support over 150,000 SMEs, many of whom are already asking their accountants and lawyers how a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ vote will affect their businesses.

The UK200Group is in a unique position to educate and inform a large number of business leaders across a wide range of industries, so has launched a campaign to clarify the views of both sides.

Central to the project will be a live-streamed debate between high-profile members of the ‘In’ and ‘Out’ campaigns at Coventry University London Campus, University House, 109-117 Middlesex St, London E1 7JF from 4.30PM to 6.30PM (debate itself 5.00PM to 6.00PM) on 11 May.

The debate will be chaired by leading futurologist and author Dr James Bellini, who spent 25 years in the broadcasting industry presenting programmes such as The Money Programme, Newsnight and Panorama, and as a studio presenter with Financial Times Television and Sky News. James’ experience in using the perspectives of history to explore possible futures will give him unique insight to the Campaign for Clarity debate.

Yvette Cooper MP will make the case for remaining in the EU. One of the most respected members of the Labour Party and a former Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette is the Member of Parliament for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford.

Lucy Thomas, Deputy Director of Britain Stronger in Europe, will also be arguing the case for continuing our membership of the EU.

Making the case for exiting the EU will be David Davis MP, the Member of Parliament for Haltemprice & Howden, and an important and consistent voice at the right wing of the Conservative Party.

Douglas Carswell MP, Member of Parliament for Clacton, is also arguing the case for Brexit. Douglas was the first elected member of the UK Independence Party, in a by-election triggered by his high-profile defection from the Conservative Party in 2014.

Although the UK200Group remains impartial and unbiased, a poll of its members’ views will be taken before and after the debate, giving a unique indication of the success of the speakers’ arguments and the views of the UK SME community.

This will officially launch the UK200Group’s referendum survey, which will continue to provide real-time analysis of the changing views of SME leaders in the UK. It will continue until the referendum on 23 June.

James Abbott, President of the UK200Group, said: “As a membership association and a mutual organisation, we are committed to providing non-partisan information to our members and their clients.

“We represent two of the most trusted groups of professionals in the world of business: solicitors and accountants. At the moment, many of them are being quizzed by worried clients about the consequences of a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ outcome.

“The Campaign for Clarity debate, featuring some of the leading proponents of both campaigns, will clarify the key messages of the ‘in’ and ‘out’ camps and discuss how SMEs will be affected by either outcome.

“The survey will act as an early barometer of SMEs’ feelings towards the referendum, and will be extremely interesting.”