Half of British voters support Brexit referendum

LONDON: Half of British voters support a referendum to choose between leaving with a deal that the government may clinch with the European Union, leaving with no deal or staying in the EU, Sky News reported, citing its own poll.

The poll showed 40% opposed such a vote while 10% did not know.

With less than eight months left until Britain is due to leave the EU, there is little clarity about how trade will flow as Prime Minister Theresa May, who is grappling with a rebellion in her party, struggles to strike a deal with the bloc.

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, a step that could spook financial markets and dislocate trade flows across Europe and beyond.

The Sky poll showed 78% of voters thought May’s government was doing a bad job of negotiating Brexit, up 23 percentage points from March.

Just 10% thought the government was doing a good job.

May’s approval rating has fallen to 24%, the poll showed.

Voters were split on whether Brexit would be good or bad for the country: 40% said it would be good and 51% said it would be bad.

In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9% of the votes cast, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1% of votes cast, backed staying.

Many opinion polls were wrong about the result.

When asked to choose between three options – May’s deal, a no deal or staying in the EU – 48% said they would prefer to stay in the EU, 27% wanted to leave with no deal and 13% would opt for the government’s deal.

Eight per cent said they would not vote while three per cent did not know.