Britons see Brexit turning sour: Poll
Two-thirds of Britons now think the government will end up with a bad deal when Britain leaves the European Union early next year, and half want the chance to vote on what happens next, Sky News reported on Monday, citing its own poll.
With less than eight months until Britain is due to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to find a proposal to maintain economic ties with the bloc that pleases both sides of her divided party and is acceptable to negotiators in Brussels.
The Sky poll said 65 percent of British voters thought the government would end up with a bad deal – an increase of 15 points from March – and half support a referendum to choose between leaving with a deal, leaving without a deal or staying in the EU. The poll indicated 40 percent opposed such a vote, while 10 percent did not know.
When asked to choose between three options – May’s deal, a no deal or staying in the EU – 48 percent said they would prefer to stay in the EU, 27 percent wanted to leave with no deal and 13 percent would opt for the government’s deal.
The shift in public opinion comes as May has stepped up planning for a so called “no-deal” Brexit that would see the world’s fifth largest economy crash out of the EU on March 29, 2019 without a trade agreement.
A separate poll on Friday suggested that the proportion of voters who favor a referendum on the final terms of any Brexit deal had overtaken those who do not for the first time.
May has repeatedly ruled out holding another public vote on Brexit, saying the public spoke at a June 23, 2016, referendum, in which 51.9 percent of the votes cast backed leaving the EU while 48.1 percent backed staying.
The Sky poll found 78 percent of voters thought May’s government was doing a bad job of negotiating Brexit, up 23 percentage points from March. Just 10 percent thought the government was doing a good job.