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		Local businesses say EU is failing Tuesday, 17th October 2006 East Midlands Conservative MEPs Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris have today backed a new poll that shows how businesses in the UK believe the EU is failing and want the UK to reduce its involvement. In the new ICM poll of 1,000 Chief Executives, commissioned by Open Europe, businesses in the UK have expressed concerns that the European Union is moving in the wrong direction, and producing too much costly regulation. While 52% of those questioned said they thought the EU was ‘failing’, 60% would now support moves to renegotiate the existing treaties to radically reduce the powers of the EU back to a basic free trade area. The survey also found that businesses think the cost of implementing EU regulations now outweighs the benefit of the Single Market they are supposed to create. Even the businesses which do the most trade in other EU countries feel the same way. Speaking today, Roger Helmer said: “This is exactly what East Midlands voters have been saying to us for the last seven years. They want an EU based on free trade and not this political and bureaucratic monster that we have now”. Chris Heaton-Harris added: “It is quite surprising that only 54% think EU over regulation outweighs the benefits of the single market because this is the view of the European Commission. Commissioner Verheugen estimates the costs of over regulation at €600bn, which is nearly four times the estimated single market benefits.” Simon Wolfson, Chief Executive of Next plc, which has headquarters in Enderby, Leicestershire said: “There is now a general feeling across all types of businesses in all sectors that there are just far too many prescriptive regulations coming out of Brussels. What makes people really annoyed is that all this regulation doesn’t seem to be doing either business or employees or consumers much good.”