Mike, who works for an engineering consulting firm in Melbourn, explains how arrangements like the Single Market and Customs Union, which are part and parcel of our membership of the European Union, matter on a daily basis.

As a services business, we will be less affected by Brexit than many. We do 30% of our business in the USA – which is benefiting slightly from the weaker pound – but about the same or slightly more with companies based on the continent. We have a number of regular customers in France and Germany, and the convenience of being able to jump on a Eurostar or a cheap flight from Stansted and go to see them cannot be overstated. I would have voted to put the UK into Schengen if that option had ever been presented to me! But the biggest impact on the business will be the loss of freedom of movement rights – employing talented people from the continent will become a lot more hassle than it previously was. I remember years ago one of my managers in a previous firm having to sign paperwork for a Polish colleague in the days before Poland was in the EU, and at my old job in Oxford we often had to wait several months for visa/work permit paperwork for new employees coming from outside the EU. I would estimate that 15% of our workforce was born outside the UK, and overwhelmingly they’re here on EU passports.

In the wider industry, loss of access to the customs union will be a big blow. At the moment, I can pack a box of goods and ship them anywhere in the EU and know I’ll get next day delivery. If I ship to the USA, the parcel may spend a week or more waiting for customs clearance. Many businesses have built pan-European supply chains: I can order electronic components from Farnell (a UK company based in Leeds, although now owned by a bigger US company, Avnet) and as long as I order before 8pm, have them delivered before midday the next day. Around 50% of the time those goods have been shipped from a warehouse in Belgium rather than in the UK – it makes sense for them to consolidate their business into fewer large warehouses because they don’t need to worry about customs checks.

Brexit puts all of that under threat – businesses who are mostly based on the continent are likely to withdraw manufacturing from the UK unless we stay in the customs union, with UK operations being confined to warehousing goods that have been shipped over. And customs delays mean that goods need to be stocked in warehouses in larger quantities to guarantee supply – because “just in time” from the continent is no longer possible – so prices go up to cover the cost of running the extra warehousing.

This case study isn’t an ideological debate, it’s just a set of practical arrangements that help out on a daily basis. It’s called the EU.

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