A union leader and a business chief have joined forces to warn that leaving the EU would be a "terrible gamble".
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, and Terry Scuoler, chief executive of the EEF manufacturers’ organisation, published a joint statement warning of the potential loss in trade, and the knock-on effects for business and employees, should Britain leave the EU.
They called for a renewed focus in the final days of the referendum campaign on the economic reality of a decision to leave the EU, and the impact it would have on workers and businesses.
The statement said: "The EU is Britain’s biggest export market, with 47% of all UK goods making their way across the Channel. That’s worth £134 billion a year. Employers and workers up and down the land - 1.7 million jobs in manufacturing alone - depend on EU trade.
"The Treasury estimates that Brexit would mean losing up to 13% of manufacturing trade with the EU - endangering a quarter of a million well-paid jobs.
"We hope there will be a renewed focus in the remaining days of the campaign on the economic reality of the decision voters will make on June 23, and its impact on them as working people and on the businesses that employ them.
"Leaving would be a terrible gamble, amounting to playing poker with people's jobs, businesses and the country's economic stability.
"On this issue, manufacturing employers and trade unions are as one. Britain is better off remaining in the EU."