Business case takes centre stage in EU debate

The battle for Britain's EU future focused on the business case on Monday as rival camps used fresh research to back their causes.

Former Marks and Spencer boss Lord Rose released analysis showing the EU is worth an average of £670,000 in extra trade for each business that exports or imports goods within the trade bloc.

Lord Rose told ITV News that every Briton benefits by £3,000 a year from being in the EU.

"We have got £350-odd a year the cost of us being in, per person, and £3,000 a year the benefits - calculated independently - of being in. That’s a ten-to-one return. Do we want to sacrifice that?" he said.

Meanwhile Vote Leave seized on the findings claiming the single market has had "no discernible benefit" for UK exports and has proved "not far short of a disaster" for Britain.

ITV News' Deputy Political Editor Chris Ship reports:

David Cameron will try to finalise renegotiations on Britain's relationship with the EU next month ahead of a planned in/out referendum by the end of 2017.

Research by the Centre for European Reform that found Britain's goods trade with the EU is 55% higher as a result of its membership will be used to support Britain Stronger In Europe's case.

The "EU effect" was worth around £133 billion to the 200,000 export and import companies in the UK in 2014, it said.

"The single market benefits firms big and small because they can trade tariff-free with a common set of regulations across the whole of Europe", Britain Stronger In Europe chairman Lord Rose will say.

"We simply cannot get the benefits this brings outside the EU."

However, research by think tank Civitas found Britain's membership of the single market has failed to have a significant impact on export growth. Its analysis of official trade statistics found the bloc has boosted the exports of non-EU countries more than its members, with Britain recording slower export growth than any of the other founding nations.

Academic Michael Burrage, who wrote the report, said the single market should be considered "a massive disappointment, and not far short of a disaster" for the UK.

Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "The unquestioning mantra that the single market has been good for British trade is wrong and should be challenged as this research makes crystal clear."