The big beasts of industry are starting to nail their colours to the mast as we move towards a referendum on the UK's continuing membership of the EU. Although a Brexit would not affect consumer goods group Unilever, according to reports, its boss Paul Polman still favours the UK remaining in. Elsewhere, some of the big drug companies have warned that an exit would damage the UK's global influence. And, last month, Greencore boss Patrick Coveney, speaking at Food Manufacture's Business Leaders' Forum in London, outlined several reasons to remain (see p4). Were a Brexit to happen, Coveney predicted raw material prices would rise; it would be more difficult to get EU workers on whom UK food factories depend; and the pound would weaken.
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