Costs of staying the EU outweigh the benefits, warn business leaders as they overwhelmingly back plans for referendum By Tim Shipman The results undermine the conventional wisdom in Westminster that the business community would campaign for Britain to remain in the EU if a vote were held in 2017, as David Cameron has promised Business leaders believe the costs of being in the EU outweigh the benefits. A poll of more than 1,000 bosses, from companies of all sizes and sectors, found overwhelming backing for plans for an in-out referendum on Britain's place in Europe, with 66 per cent in favour. The results dramatically undermine the conventional wisdom in Westminster that the business community would automatically campaign for Britain to remain in the EU if a vote were held in 2017, as David Cameron has promised. The YouGov survey, commissioned by the Eurosceptic group Business for Britain, found that 46 per cent of business leaders believe the costs of complying with Single Market red tape outweigh the benefits of being in the EU, compared with 37 per cent who disagree. Seventeen per cent were undecided. A total of 56 per cent feel that "meaningful change" of the UK's relationship with Brussels requires treaty change and a relationship based simply on trade against 23 per cent who don't. The poll found that business leaders would like the Government to repatriate powers in nine separate areas, a more far-reaching renegotiation than even David Cameron has suggested. They want the UK not Brussels to control employment law, environmental regulation and health and safety legislation. They also want national control of monopolies and competition regulation, company taxation and VAT, consumer rights and data protection and consumer rights, product and services regulation, waste regulation and weights and measures. The poll found that business leaders would like the Government to repatriate powers in nine separate areas, a more far-reaching renegotiation than even David Cameron has suggesteD The poll finds that British business is increasingly looking beyond Europe for new trade and would like the Government to do so too. By 58 per cent to 21 per cent British business leaders want to see the Government focus on the emerging economic powers like Brazil, China and India rather than the EU for future trading links. The Confederation of British Industry, the UK's leading business group, is expected to argue the benefits of the EU at its conference next week. But the poll found that even among members of the CBI, 49 per cent to 44 per cent believe that the disadvantages of the Single Market now outweigh the benefits. Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Business for Britain, said: "It will come as a surprise to many that a nationwide and representative poll of business leaders finds a clear majority support EU treaty change and a return to a trading relationship. The reason is clear - most business leaders think the costs of the Single Market outweigh its benefits. Now that business has spoken, the pressure is on the Government to get a better deal from Brussels and make life easier for Britain's job creators. Alan Halsall, co-chairman of Business for Britain and chairman of Silver Cross Prams, said: "Business has, until now, been poorly represented in the debate on Britain's EU membership. My own experience is one of overregulation combined with protectionism, even within the Single Market, and we have therefore focussed on trading with the fast-growing markets in the Pacific region. I often wonder why there aren't more business people calling on the Government to make fundamental changes to our EU membership. This poll demonstrates that I and hundreds of thousands of other UK business people are not alone in wanting to see a much better deal from Brussels.