BUSINESSES need to be inside the EU if they are to thrive rather than merely survive according to the CEO of Siemens UK, Juergen Maier.

Siemens Rail Automation welcomed Prime Minister David Cameron to their Chippenham factory on Tuesday where he set out his plans for keeping Britain inside a reformed European Union.

Mr Cameron outlined his proposals, which included an emergency welfare break and a curb on in-work benefits for migrants, to gathered employees and national press at the factory.

He said: “We are a country that lives on its enterprising businesses, its essential Britain is open to business, making sure our business can succeed the world over.

“I am not going to argue the EU is a perfect organisation, there’s still the need for reform, there’s still need for Britain to be in there driving reform. We will be able to show Britain is more prosperous inside this reformed EU.”

Siemens’ employs over 700 people in Chippenham and has spent well over 150 years in the town. It has it’s headquarters in Munich and works closely with many European countries.

CEO Juergen Maier said: “I think this debate about European membership is very important for many manufacturers up and down the country, for this site here it’s very important.

“We were for the reform agenda which will make businesses more competitive that must be a good thing for all businesses in Europe and the UK.

“We have a very clear choice we either say we exit and try and go along and create our own standards, if we do that we would survive.

“Our other choice is to work from within the EU and help lead the new industry, lead that from here in Chippenham to create that standards from here.

“I am sure this business can thrive and create more jobs and prosperity. In business we would like this uncertainty to be moved away as quickly as possibly, have a referendum and move on.”

Michelle Donelan MP added: “He has announced a set of proposals that are very strong, that really have changed and shaped Europe to the best interests of the British public.

“I have always said I wanted to see what the package was that he achieved. Now what we need to wait and see if they can get set in stone and agreed upon.”