This warning comes from Alliance representative Sean Neeson after DUP counterpart Sammy Wilson - the province’s new Finance Minister - voiced his support for British withdrawal.

Mr Neeson, who believes the UK should sign up to the Lisbon Treaty, told the TIMES: “The European Union has a big impact on all of us. As a member of the Assembly and Business Trust, I recently led a highly successful visit to see how business in Northern Ireland can benefit from Europe.

“It is important for countries in Europe to work together on issues like the environment and employment. It would be very foolish for the UK to go out on its own. Being a member of the EU played a big part in the rejuvenation of the Irish economy and the PEACE funds have been and continue to be of tremendous help to Northern ireland.”

Last month, Mr Wilson joined fellow Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson at the launch of the Freedom Association and pledged his support to its ‘Better Off Out’ campaign for British withdrawal from the EU.

“This is a view held by a substantial number of people in Northern Ireland, and indeed across the United Kingdom and it is disappointing to see that only one Labour MP and a handful of Conservatives are prepared to support this campaign,” he said.

“The work of the European Union has contributed to restricted freedoms and imposition of regulations that we would otherwise oppose were we not part of the EU.”

Mr Wilson’s Euroscepticism was also on display during a recent House of Commons debate, when he accused Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey of being “afraid of a referendum” on the Lisbon treaty in the UK even as he urges the Irish people to vote ‘yes’ in the republic’s second plebiscite on the treaty.