WITH the EU Referendum just over three weeks away, campaigning for both sides of the debate is stepping up.

Last week, members of the GMB Union held a rally in the town centre urging people to vote in, citing a Swindon Borough Council report which said 10,000 Swindon jobs are at risk should the UK vote to leave.

While this report has been slammed by some as inaccurate, Chris Watts, the president of the Swindon and Wiltshire GMB branch, says it shows risks to the town if people leave.

He said: “It [the report] concludes that leaving the EU would likely reduce sales and increase costs of trading with Europe which is likely to impact upon their sales volumes causing employers to cut jobs.

“If Britain left the EU, the costs of exporting goods to Europe could rise which is likely to affect the volume of sales to Europe.

“Manufacturing businesses would be most affected, but also wholesale and retail, transport and storage, accommodation and food, banking and finance sectors could also be significantly affected.

“Swindon’s economic plan is built on the idea of expanding employment in advanced engineering and manufacturing, and upon continued strong performance from the automotive sector. These are the very areas at risk if we leave the EU.”

Also present was local GMB secretary Andy Newman, who said while there were problems, the country was better off remaining in the EU.

“I regularly speak to hundreds of GMB members in the Swindon area, and it is no secret that there is considerable dissatisfaction with the EU,” he said.

“Too often nowadays the EU seems to be on the side of the big corporations instead of working people.

“However, we still believe that we are much better staying in the EU, not only for economic stability and job security, but also because many of the legal protections that working people enjoy nowadays originate in the EU.”

The controversial report, which was written in January for the Economy and Regeneration Overview committee, highlighted the possible impact of the referendum.

However, it was quickly criticised by those who are campaigning to leave, with UKIP MEP Julia Reid saying it gave a misleading impression.

She said: “If we left the EU, companies such as BMW and Volkswagen would still trade with us. They would not turn their back on a major customer.

“They claim Brexit would be disastrous when campaigners fighting for Britain to leave the UK are promoting a positive and global view where we would be unburdened by EU interference which prevents us from trading with the world on our own terms.”