The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) has released an open letter expressing the support of itself and its companies for the UK remaining within the European Union.
The UK trade association for the Manufacturing Technologies industry, the MTA is also the organisers behind the biennial MACH exhibition.
MTA members were consulted in late-2015.
When asked the question “Thinking about the consequences for your business, should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?” 89% of respondents answered ‘yes’, and 10% answered ‘no’.
Just 1% indicated that they were ‘unsure’.
The letter in full:
We are writing to express the support of the Manufacturing Technologies Association and of ourselves and our companies for the UK’s remaining within the European Union.
The manufacturing technology sector, which provides the machinery, instrumentation and software that makes manufacturing happen, is a global one.
Over 80% of the output of the UK manufacturing technology sector is exported, with the countries of the EU accounting for nearly half of that. The ability to access that market cheaply and efficiently is essential to our continued competitiveness.
As a truly globalised sector, many of our companies are multinationals, including companies from outside the EU, in particular the US and Japan, who have established European Headquarters in the UK.
This provides a multiplier effect bringing with it economic activity, and consequent employment in a diverse range of business functions such as applications engineering, marketing, management and finance – not just a UK sales team.
This is about more than market access, it is about the UK being a fully participatory member of the EU, able to influence the political and economic climate.
As the largest economic bloc in the world, we believe that the EU is better placed to negotiate International Trade Agreements than the UK would be alone. This argument is borne out by our experience of the creation of international standards where the MTA represents a strong UK voice in concert with our European partners.
Yours sincerely,
- Guy Mollart – President MTA and President Mollart Engineering
- James Selka -Chief Executive Officer MTA
- Paul Crawford – Managing Director Europe, Allied Machine and Engineering
- Paul Dixon – Director, Baker Blower
- Mark Ridgway – Manging Director, Group Rhodes
- Mike Diskin – Managing Director, Halifax Numerical Controls
- Matthias Meyer – Manging Director, Heller UK
- Peter Graves – Managing Director, Industrial Tooling Corporation
- Ernst Wagner – Managing Director, Kasto ltd
- Paul Bexon – Metrology and Quality Service
- Tim Allen – Manging Director, MJ Allen Group
- Tony Bannan – Chief Executive Officer, Precision Technologies Group
- Ben Taylor – Assistant Chief Executive, Renishaw
- Steve Totty – Managing Director, Star GB
- Marcus Burton – European Group Managing Director, Yamazaki Mazak
