The majority of 8,000 polled UK businesses across Europe are against a Brexit

Britain's markets are on tenterhooks as the latest public poll on the European Union referendum showed that the vote for Britain leaving the EU - known as a Brexit - is now in the lead, over unionist support.

However, if you look at the latest polls when only surveying businesses, the results are a lot more clear cut.

On Monday, the Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe sent Business Insider the results of its latest poll of 8,000 large and small businesses, operating mainly outside of the UK across Europe.

The main results showed that:

• Stay vote - 89.3% members "considered that, on balance, it would be in the best interests of the UK to stay in the EU."
• Brexit vote - Only 7.1% said that "it would be better for the UK to withdraw from the EU."
• 92.9% agreed that "the EU is a 'work in progress' and needs to become more open, less bureaucratic, more competitive and responsive to the needs of the business community."

"This poll widens this seminally important debate to key European stakeholders and British trading partners. It is not our role to tell the British electorate how to vote," said said David Thomas, executive chairman, at COBCOE.

"However the clear and pragmatic view of our membership, Britain's commercial friends across Europe, is that the EU remains a "work in progress" and that it makes sense for the UK to remain a member."

The poll results were released on the same day as one of the world's largest professional services firms - Deloitte - published its 35th quarterly survey of 120 Chief Financial Officers and Group Finance Directors of major companies in the UK. The 2016 Q1 survey took place between March 8 and March 21.

The survey of 120 CFOs found that 75% of respondents are in favour the UK remaining in the EU - up from 62% in the previous quarter.