Five years on from the Brexit referendum and nearly two years after leaving the bloc, most Britons would vote to rejoin the EU if a plebiscite were held, according to a new survey.
The UK would vote to rejoin the EU by 53–47%, a survey of over 2,000
people by Savanta has found. Meanwhile, 82% of those who did not vote in
the 2016 referendum say they would now vote to re-join the EU.
The passage of time appears to have done nothing to reduce the
political divisions and faultlines in UK society that were exposed by
the referendum campaign and political deadlock and continue to dominate
UK politics.
The promise that London’s relations with the EU were settled for good
by the referendum and the election win for Boris Johnson’s Conservative
party in 2019 is also belied by the survey which finds that despite
Brexit fatigue, two in five UK adults would support a referendum on
whether to re-join the EU within the next five years, with just
one-third opposed to the idea.
Moreover, with the majority in favour of EU membership largest among
young voters, of whom 77% would vote to rejoin the bloc, the UK’s EU
question appears unlikely to go away any time soon.
49% of voters aged between 18–34 would like a new referendum to be held in the next five years.
“Five years on from the Brexit referendum, this polling suggests a
country that is equally divided, but with the momentum shifting towards a
majority who would now vote to re-join the EU,” said Chris Hopkins,
Political Research Director at Savanta ComRes.
“And while many feel like the issue is best put to bed, the high
levels of support for re-joining amongst younger voters, as well as the
significant proportion who would back having such a referendum in the
first place, indicates that the Brexit story isn’t going away any time
soon,” he added.
The post–Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which came into
force in January, had been promised as bringing the Brexit process to an
end by Johnson and his ministers. But delays and supply chain problems
across a number of sectors, and labour shortages, exacerbated by the
UK’s EU exit, have resulted in empty shelves and product shortages in
British shops and supermarkets.
Meanwhile, disputes with France over licenses for French fishing
vessels, and with the European Commission over the implementation of the
Northern Ireland protocol have been a near-permanent feature this year
and UK and EU officials concede that relations will remain difficult for
the foreseeable future.
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