Party is divided

Will other businesses in Kent follow his position?

Mr Allen said: “I suspect if they are like me and exporting, then they will lean towards my position.

“We have UK suppliers who think they are only selling to an English company but that business might rely wholly on its ability to export.

“It is all interconnected right down to the local job.”

Several Kent MPs have declared their position on the referendum debate.

Six MPs, including Mr Allen’s own MP Damian Green, are campaigning to remain but Canterbury’s Julian Brazier, Gravesham’s Adam Holloway and Dartford’s Gareth Johnson have all decided to campaign to leave. A machinery exporter said fears over the future of his trade agreements prompted him to sign a letter backed by several FTSE 100 bosses campaigning for Britain to stay in the EU.

Tim Allen, managing director of the MJ Allen Group, based on Ashford’s Cobbs Wood industrial estate, was among 100 business leaders to sign a letter in The Times last week which said leaving the EU would “deter investment, threaten jobs and put the economy at risk”.

His engineering business, which had a turnover of about £34 million last year, exports between a quarter and a third of its machine products to northern Europe to countries like Ger- many, Belgium and Sweden.

In all about 80% of its products end up being used by companies around the world, which Mr Allen said would come under threat if voters decided Britain should exit the EU on June 23.

He said: “Exporting is really important to a customer like us and our customers.

“My concern is that if the UK does leave the European Union then those trade agreements we have will get messed up.

“We could end up having to pay tariffs and duties and fill

Tim Allen of the MJ Allen Group is campaigning to stay in