UK Food Industry response to Brexit vote: a disappointing result

UK Food Industry responds to Brexit vote

A poll held among the members of the Food and Drink Federation in March of 2016, showed 71% support for Britain to remain in the EU, while only 12% believed that leave would be in the best interest of their business.

juni 26, 2016

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Food and Drink Federation (FDF)

Ian Wright CBE, Director General at the Food and Drink Federation, the voice of the UK's largest manufacturing sector - food and drink, responds to the vote to leave in the UK's EU Referendum.

Ian Wright CBE, Director General at the FDF:

"In March we released the results of a poll of our members which showed 70% support for Britain to remain in the EU."

"It's inevitable in the light of those results that the majority of FDF members will regard this as a disappointing result for the food and drink industry."

"Now FDF will work on behalf of our members and all those across our industry to find a way through this very challenging period that we face. We'll focus on working with the Government to understand what this means for trading, market access and regulation to secure the best outcome for British food and drink manufacturing business and their customers."

More details on the FDF Food Industry Poll

A comprehensive poll of members carried out by the Food and Drink Federation saw more than two thirds (71%) of those responding support the 'remain' option. A further 17% responded 'my company chooses not to express a preference' while 12% expressed support for the 'leave' option. The response rate was 50%.

Ian Wright CBE, director general of FDF, at the toime of publishing the poll result (March 15, 2016):

“71% of FDF members who voted believe the interests of their business will be best served by the UK voting to remain in the European Union. Members identified the single market, access to raw materials and the free movement of labour among key considerations in coming to their view.”

“FDF members also helped to identify priorities for ongoing EU reform that would boost our sector's long term competitiveness. These included increasing access to non-EU markets to boost exports of finished goods and ensure imports of required ingredients, safeguarding free movement of labour within the EU and tackling unnecessary red tape, in particular to ensure consistent interpretation and implementation of EU employment regulation.”

“Of course, FDF is a representative of all of its members; so we completely respect those (17% of those voting) whose business chose not express a preference and those (12% of those voting) who supported the 'leave' option. We speak on behalf of our membership as a whole, not on behalf of any single member company.”

“I am delighted that our Executive Committee felt strongly that we should have a clear point of view on the most important issues facing our industry. Few are more important than the EU referendum and our point of view is clear – the UK should remain a member!”.