He spent 13 years as Kent chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses but Roger House still cannot make up his mind about the European Union.

As director of support company the Centre for Micro Business, he deals with many bosses across a variety of industries but says he has no idea which way the majority of them will vote in the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU on June 23.

“I’m getting annoyed that we don’t know anything in detail, which we need to know,” said Mr House from his office at East Kent College, Broadstairs.

“We wish the facts were laid out in front of us, we wish we knew more. The government should come out now and lay out a very clear agenda.”

On the one hand, Mr House is concerned about what might happen to European funding for major infrastructure projects across Kent.

On the other, he does not like the idea that “there are people out there telling us what to do who I have not voted for”.

One person who is clear on his viewpoint is Malcolm Hyde, South East regional director of the CBI. The big business lobbying group has been firm in its support for remaining a part of the EU.

Mr Hyde believes that overall, the UK has prospered within Europe and “the benefits of membership would be difficult to replicate from the outside”.

He said: “For business, being part of the single market is the most significant benefit of EU membership.

“For business, being part of the single market is the most significant benefit of EU membership..." - Malcolm Hyde, CBI South East

“It provides guaranteed tariff-free access to 500 million consumers and has been a cornerstone of the UK’s economic success.”

However, the argument does not wash with Danny Cooper, managing director of the Insurance Manager, based in Throwley, near Faversham.

“Yes we get access to 500 million customers but it costs us £87 billion a year to play,” he said.

“You can’t call that tariff-free.

“If you could talk to me about David Cameron’s reform package I would listen to you but there are too many vague comments about it from the government and the CBI.

“What does it mean for us financially? Is my job going to be safe? I’m screaming for the facts to be able to make a decision.

“I want to know what it means in pound notes, for schools, for hospitals and quality of life.

“There is no business reason to justify us spending £87bn a year to be part of a club which is desperate to do business with us. My position is we should be out.”

Tim Allen, managing director of Ashford-based MJ Allen Group, was among 100 business leaders to sign a letter in The Times 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 including Germany, Belgium and Sweden.

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.”

However, this debate is not simply about large businesses verses small.

Stuart Wheeler, the founder of financial spread betting firm IG, sits on the board of Vote Leave.

“There is no business reason to justify us spending £87bn a year to be part of a club which is desperate to do business with us..." - Danny Cooper, The Insurance Manager

He splits his time between London and his home at Chilham Castle, where he has lived for 15 years.

A former Conservative donor and ex-Ukip party treasurer, he said: “Even large businesses find all the EU’s regulations tiresome.

“Most businesses in Kent are small and they have every advantage from getting out of the EU.

“Regulations which are huge in number are definitely cramping people trying to run a small business, who have not got the compliance people which big businesses have to make sure they are following all the rules.”

He said his wife’s equestrian business at the castle has fallen foul of regulations about what she could do with her horses’ manure, all of which “came straight out of Brussels”.

Mr Wheeler added: “That business doesn’t have anything to do with Europe yet it is subject to regulations issued by the EU.”