EU Referendum: Self-employed workers voting on emotion and personal choice says poll

The majority of self-employed workers will put personal choice before their business in the EU Referendum on Thursday (23 June), according to an industry poll.

The poll, of over 1,000 self-employed potential voters in the UK by accounting software provider Intuit QuickBooks, found that 72% intend to vote according to personal or political preference, with a mere 20% opting to vote with their business in mind.

Furthermore, the vote itself is evenly split with 41.9% set to vote 'remain', 41.3% voting 'leave' and 11.4% still undecided. The polling data was compiled by Intuit QuickBooks between 10 June and 16 June, with 95% of the respondents saying they would definitely vote.

Rich Preece, European managing director at Intuit QuickBooks, said: "Those self-employed constitute the fastest growing category of workers with nearly 5m such individuals across the UK.

"Their opinions and votes will have a significant impact on the referendum outcome, whether they have made their decision based on personal or business reasons."

Elsewhere, the poll also found that a clear majority (62%) of self-employed workers admit to being concerned about the implications of the EU Referendum result on their future prospects, but most (57%) believe that in times of economic uncertainty it is still more reliable to be self-employed, rather than working for a full-time employer.

In the event of a Brexit, 82% of survey respondents said they would choose to remain self-employed, rather than trying to find work with an employer.