For Briton Damian Duffy, who has run flower shops for 20 years, a Brexit would feel like a “huge party.”
He feels this way despite British Prime Minister David Cameron, the IMF and a host of multinationals all warning of a painful economic fallout should Britain vote to exit the EU in a referendum on June 23.
“Everyone in this country who is not in big business has had life made more expensive and more difficult to live” as a result of Britain being part of the EU, said Duffy, the owner of Rosanna’s flower shop in Watford, a commuter town northwest of London.
Duffy, who owns three flower shops and employs eight people in and around the Hertfordshire suburb known for its English Premier League soccer team and proximity to the Harry Potter studios, said EU expansion has pushed up property prices in the area.
“Immigration policies have to change in this country,” said Duffy, as his Thai wife busily prepared flower arrangements for a wedding.
Duffy claimed that an influx of low-skilled labor from the eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 had fueled property demand in the area, pushing up prices. At the same time, he said, immigration had pushed down wages.
“My local customer base, if they are paying higher rent than they would have been doing normally, then their disposable income to spend on businesses like this has decreased,” he said. “It is a luxury business, not a necessity.”
“As a business we do well, but it’s incredibly tough,” Duffy added as he pointed to a food store selling flowers across the road.
In an expression of his disapproval, Duffy joined dozens of other owners of small and medium-sized business in March signing an open letter on behalf of the Leave.EU campaign group.
From restaurant and cleaning business owners to shopkeepers and car repair centers, the EU is seen as cumbersome, inefficient and costly, at least among those calling for Britain to leave the 28-country bloc.
According to the latest poll by the UK Federation of Small Businesses, 47 percent of small business owners want to stay in the EU, while just less than 41 percent want Britain out.
“Red tape and regulation are often seen by small-business owners as a barrier to their business, with the EU often seen as a source of much regulation,” said Stephen Roper, director at the Britain-based Enterprise Research Centre.
“Only about a fifth of UK small businesses export to Europe and so benefit from the single market,” he said.
Their position contrasts with large multinationals like British energy group BP and banking titan HSBC, who argue that remaining part of the EU provides stability by guaranteeing access to the single market.
From his Watford shop, Duffy took the opportunity to hit out at the influence of a small number of multinationals owing to their “very close relationships with politicians.”
He also dismissed studies by the likes of the IMF and the UK Treasury that forecast an economic shock in the event of a Brexit.
“If you put a hundred economists in a room you will probably have a hundred different opinions,” he said with a chuckle.
With less than a month before voting day, the two camps continue to call upon expert opinions and numbers charts to support their opposing arguments.
At this stage, it remains difficult to imagine what would happen in the event of a Brexit.
“We want to continue trading with Europe,” Duffy said. “All my flower suppliers are from Holland. I’m sure we can do very simple reciprocal trade agreements that would have no impact upon trading relations at all.”
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