Siemens backs EU remain campaign as it starts training Hull workforce

The project director of Siemens Hull says his company is backing the campaign for the UK to remain part of the EU. Finbarr Dowling has been speaking as the first of hundreds of workers to be employed at the company's new wind turbine blade factory in the city travel to Denmark to begin their training.

At the start of September the company's new facility at Alexandra Dock in Hull will begin manufacturing 75m long blades for wind turbines. The site is being built with a £310m joint investment between the company and Associated British Ports. When pressed on whether that investment would have gone ahead of Britain was not part of the EU, the Project Director admitted the uncertainty could have made such a decision more difficult:

But while this is one firm which would like to see Britain remain within Europe, those campaigning for the UK to exit the EU say businesses should be looking further afield than Europe:

As the referendum campaign goes on, so too will the new recruits' training. They will be in Aalborg in Denmark throughout the summer where they are shadowing members of the Danish workforce to learn the precise techniques they will need to use when they return to Hull.

By the time their training is finished we will know the result of the referendum and what effect that will have on businesses like Siemens.

Watch James Webster's full report from Denmark: