IF you earned your living as a consultant advising companies from outside the European Union on where they should invest to gain access to the free trade bloc, you might well have started scouting out office space in the Republic of Ireland.

Of course, you would probably want to put in place the type of Brexit-related clauses which are said to be featuring at the moment in property investment deals in Scotland, and no doubt elsewhere in the UK. The clauses would, obviously, be framed the other way round in terms of the outcome of next Thursday’s referendum on UK membership of the EU.

The result looks like it could be close indeed. The Leave camp has been ahead in the vast bulk of the recent opinion polls. The bookmakers continue to believe a vote to remain is more likely than not, although they are far, far less sure than they were earlier this month.

If you were engaged in inward investment consultancy work in Scotland at the moment, and wanted to make sure you did not see a downturn in business, you would only need to think seriously about moving elsewhere if the vote next Thursday is for Brexit.

Should there be a vote for the UK to stay in the EU, Scotland’s skills base should certainly continue to attract plenty of inward investors here, backed by the sterling efforts of taxpayer-funded Scottish Development International.

In recent months, as the spectre of a Brexit scenario has loomed larger in spite of what seem to be largely vacuous arguments in favour of leaving the EU, advisers have noted some of those involved in property deals in Scotland have included get-out clauses. They have done so because they are worried about the consequences of a Leave vote.

It seems eminently sensible to take such precautions, given the scale of the economic debacle likely to ensue should the UK electorate vote to leave the EU.

However, the stultifying effect of the growing uncertainty caused by the seeming rise in public support for exiting the EU spreads far wider than get-out clauses in transactions.

From speaking to senior figures within the Scottish business community, there seem to be plenty of instances of people who might otherwise be doing deals sitting on their hands. You would imagine this situation is replicated throughout the UK.

The economic damage from Brexit would be largely the same wherever you are in the UK. This would manifest itself in lost international trade and inward investment, and in the drag on economic output arising from huge and protracted uncertainty.

The importance of EU membership to the inward investment prospects of Scotland was highlighted again by Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute this week.

Brian Ashcroft, emeritus professor of economics at Strathclyde University, pointed out overseas companies set up operations in Scotland to gain access to the EU free trade bloc.

He said: “In Scotland, we are a major recipient of inward investment. It is hard to see that would continue to the same degree once we are outside the EU because large amounts of that investment [are based on] trade with the EU. Why should they [overseas investors] come here when we have erected a barrier?”

Much has been made of how the campaign run by the Leave camp has supposedly been more positive, in terms of its claims about how the UK would be better off in the event of Brexit.

However, much of this positivity has seemed like nothing more than telling everyone that everything will be okay, whatever areas of concern about an EU exit might be raised. This seemed to be the approach of Vote Leave campaigner Michael Gove when he appeared on the BBC’s Question Time EU Special.

The Remain camp has meanwhile been criticised for being negative, for warning of the economic dangers of EU exit. But surely, if you are arguing the status quo is best, flagging the significant detrimental economic impact of leaving the EU is the natural thing to do. Whether or not people prefer positive or negative messages, they have to be made aware of the economic reality of the situation.

The effect on inward investment is surely among the most obvious realities, as is the impact on international trade.

A Brexit vote would make it far more difficult for Scotland and other parts of the UK to win inward investment.

Companies based outside the EU, whether they have their head offices in North America or Asia or wherever, generally have fairly simple reasons for setting up their European operations in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK.

Access to the huge EU free trade bloc will, for many, be the main reason. Availability of a skilled workforce, and a wish to conduct business in English might be among other reasons, together with such things as corporation tax rates and supportive governments.

Generally, multinationals, when they are devoting major amounts of investment and management time to setting up overseas operations, want to be sure the business environment is stable and certain. Their businesses are often complicated enough, so minimising complexity is key.

A Brexit vote next week would remove what is the main advantage for many such inward investors of setting up in Scotland or anywhere in the UK: being part of the EU. It would also result in instability and uncertainty, further damaging the case for having operations in the UK on the formulaic scorecard assessments of multinationals.

The Republic of Ireland, given it has a similar business environment to the UK, is an obvious alternative candidate.

What is more, you would imagine many non-European multinationals with existing operations in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK would prefer the certainty of moving to a continuing EU member state to waiting around in vain for Mr Gove’s promised economic utopia.