Brussels blamed for driving up energy prices for UK factories
European regulation has driven up the cost of energy to British companies, and the country’s manufacturing firms are less positive about current EU membership than previously suggested, according to a report released this morning.
Research by Business for Britain, which advocates a renegotiated relationship with the EU, the single market’s regulations have driven up the price of energy by £86.6bn and £93.2bn on net.
The report also claims that nine per cent of the price for energy-intensive firms is down to EU regulations, and that hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk from rising prices.
The group also reveals polling, which suggest that the UK’s industrial firms are less wedded to the EU than previously suggested. When asked if the costs of complying with single market regulations outweighed the benefits of the bloc, 53 per cent of firms said yes, while only 38 per cent disagreed. Manufacturing firms are much more reliant on energy prices than other parts of the economy.
“If we want UK manufacturing to thrive, we need less prescriptive EU legislation and more freedom for markets to deliver cleaner, internationally competitive energy supplies,” said Jeremy Nicholson, of the Energy Intensive Users Group, an umbrella organisation for firms which are particularly exposed to UK energy prices.