A Dutch exit from the European Union would be “hugely problematic” to the country’s ability to attract talent and for UK recruitment agencies operating in the country, recruiters have warned.

This week a new Dutch poll commissioned by thinktank Bruges Group found 56% of people in the country wanted to leave the European Union, while 44% wanted to stay.

Commenting on the poll this morning, Jim Ryan, director at UK-headquartered energy staffing specialist ERSG, said a Dutch EU exit or ‘Nexit’ would be “hugely problematic” for his agency which has an office in the Netherlands.

Ryan said: “Operating on the ground in the Netherlands would be hugely problematic if they left the EU on the basis of how important freedom of movement and being able to move across seamlessly is to countries integrated into the European mainland.

“Almost half of our UK guys are working on European projects. Freedom of movement is essential for that. If we have not got freedom of movement and restrictions on that – that is going to be massively problematic from the UK perspective and equally from the Dutch perspective. “We would potentially rethink the Dutch office because it would be a big problem.”

Meanwhile, Gijs Notte, consultant at Amsterdam-based IT recruiter RAVE-cruitment, said Nexit would adversely affect his agency’s ability to continue to attract non-EU workers, who seek to come to the Netherlands initially and then move on to other EU states.

“That would have an effect on whether people from outside the European Union choose to work and live in the Netherlands,” Notte told Recruiter.

“Probably they would prefer another country which is in the European Union because it gives them much more possibilities to travel within the European Union to find different opportunities. “We attract foreign IT specialists – a lot come from outside the European Union so some of them stay in the Netherlands but 50% would eventually go to Germany or the UK.”