In a speech today at the British American Business Council, Cridland will say the recent political tussle around the EU presents an "inward looking picture of British politics to the outside". He will add, we should be "restoring growth, through trade deals" and "championing the reforms that we want to see" in Europe.
"These issues [growth and jobs] matter to the public too because their primary concerns are about the economy, jobs, and the cost of living," Cridland will say.
"The demands for a bill to underpin what the PM had already promised doesn't actually move the debate further forward.
"David Cameron had already set out his terms for a referendum by 2017 on continued membership of a reformed EU. It's already given us clarity over the process - if not the outcome."
Cridland will also reject the notion that emulating non-EU members Norway and Switzerland would be better for the UK, arguing British businesses don't want to find themselves at the margins of the world's largest trading bloc operating under market rules over which they have no influence.
"So for business and the public, it's economic growth that matters. Growth at home and growth abroad. And the best way to achieve this is to keep a firm foot in European trade at the same time as securing a bigger exports foothold elsewhere in the world," Cridland will say.
"Business has to make the nuts and bolts case for what our relationship with Europe should look like. Maintaining our influence to shape, and our access to, the single market will be central to that case."
He will add: "We have to focus on a positive vision of reform so Europe does less of the things we don't want, and more of the things we do: boosting competitiveness and resisting bad policies that work against growth and stability. Let's be clear. Being a member of a reformed EU is the best way to preserve market access."
