MORE than two-thirds of Oxfordshire businesses said in a survey Brexit will damage their trade.

The survey led by Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership saw businesses respond to a series of Brexit-related statements. Only 13 per cent of respondents felt that their business would be better off as a direct consequence of the UK’s EU withdrawal on March 29.

Nigel Tipple, chief executive of OxLEP, said: “As discussions on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union continue at a pace – as a Local Enterprise Partnership – it is important that we ‘temperature test’ our business community and relay their views to Government.

“Clearly, some of our business community have genuine concerns across several areas of the negotiations and reassurance is needed.

“Oxfordshire’s economy is undoubtedly a strong and adaptable one.

"We have an excellent record of supporting small businesses to survive beyond five years and it was recently-announced that 50,000 new jobs have been created in the county between 2012 and 2017.

"We believe business in Oxfordshire can continue to thrive post-Brexit, on both a national and international scale."

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In addition, those who took part in the survey were generally undecided as to whether Brexit would alter the make-up of workforces, as well as the ability to recruit quality staff.

A total of 30 per cent of respondents agreed that the make-up of their workforce would change as a direct consequence of the UK’s EU withdrawal, with 38 per cent disagreeing – meanwhile, 38 per cent also felt they would find it harder to recruit the right calibre of staff as a direct consequence of the UK’s EU withdrawal, with 32 per cent disagreeing.