Three-quarters of business leaders and the leaders of the three main political parties believe we are better off in the European Union. Why? The EU is essential to Britain’s interests at home and abroad, and withdrawal would be damaging. So the clamour for withdrawal, or the sort of wholesale renegotiation that some are demanding, is all the harder to understand.

2012 saw a remarkable shift in British politics. Talk about UK withdrawal from the EU became more acceptable from members of the cabinet.

It is not just big business that benefits from the free movement of goods, services, people and capital in the EU – so does the home market for the 87 per cent of the members of the Federation of Small Businesses. If we left, we would lose this and 46 trade agreements the EU has negotiated with other countries.

The prime minister has said that he wants EU trade deals with the US and Japan to be at the centre of his G8 agenda later in the year. The EU – with the UK as a member – is the world’s largest and most powerful trading bloc with a GDP of €12.6tn in 2011. David Cameron’s G8 trade strategy assumes a UK firmly anchored in the EU.

Given that the meeting is in early summer in June, one can infer that whatever Cameron will say in his much-anticipated speech this month, he genuinely does not want to see the UK slip out of the EU.

Of course, the EU is not perfect. The budget, for example, is crying out for reform, but the idea that we pay a crippling amount to the EU is just wrong. Our net contribution to the EU budget works out at about £93 per person. So Norway pays 79 per cent per person of what the UK does, but has no representation in the EU or influence over the laws it passes (apart from Schengen), about 75 per cent of which it ends up applying as a member of the European Economic Area. The UK government estimates that British households each benefit by between £1,100 and £3,300 every year from the single market.

Migration is going to be another touchstone issue in 2013. It is the most complex and politically charged issue people link with Europe. The government must be more sensitive to people’s concerns and manage migration better, but in the years after the 2004 EU enlargement, migrants from new members made a positive contribution to Britain.

On the world stage with crises incubating in Iran and openly flaring in Syria the EU remains an essential part of how the UK exerts influence globally. The UK-led EU sanctions against Iran have been a major part of the international response to that country’s nuclear ambitions. The EU anti-piracy operations off the horn of Africa, with Royal Navy vessels playing a central role, have slashed the number of attacks on shipping over the last two years.

In all the things that matter – jobs, growth, trade, security in central Europe and the Middle East – the EU is an indispensable force-multiplier for all its members. Despite the popular perception, the UK has successfully shaped it in its image. We were instrumental in creating a borderless market for goods, services people and capital. We were then the strongest advocates of extending those benefits from the EU of 15 to countries in central and eastern Europe which emerged from behind the iron curtain into democracy only in living memory.

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Roland Rudd is chairman of Business for New Europe, a coalition of pro-European business leaders. He tweets @Roland Rudd

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Photo: Rock Cohen