YORK MP Hugh Bayley has called on business men and women in the city to support the UK's membership of the EU.

Mr Bayley was speaking at a business lunch yesterday organised by The Met Club at the Hotel Du Vin in The Mount.

During his speech the York Central MP talked about the need to lower business rates to support small and medium businesses, his lobbying for the reopening of Lendal Bridge based on reaction for retailers, and his backing of John Lewis, which he described as "a great asset to the city".

Speaking to the audience of around 20 businessmen and women from around North Yorkshire, Mr Bayley called for businesses in York to get behind the case for Britain remaining in the European Union.

He said: "I would like to see more businesses asserting more attention and being more vocal on the importance of the UK remaining in the EU.

"A total of 3.5 million jobs in the UK depend on our membership in the EU, 350,000 of which are in our region.

"People talk about the the great challenge with new players. We in Britain trade more with little Belgium thant we do with India, Australia and Canada combined.

"This Union is immensely important to our future and economy. A lot of international companies have said if we were to leave the EU they would think again about future investment in the UK."

"We have to talk about this now, and think about the implications of leaving the EU rather than waiting to see if we have a referendum, because if we leave it until then to try and win the public over then it will be much harder."