Britons would favour remaining in EU: poll
LONDON: Britons would vote 52% to 48% in favour of remaining in the European Union if there were another Brexit referendum, showing only a small change in public opinion since the 2016 vote, according to a poll of polls.
But researchers cautioned that a narrow victory for those hoping to reverse the decision taken two years ago would be heavily contingent on getting those who did not vote last time to turn out.
The figures are calculated by taking the average of the six most recent surveys by major pollsters between August 21 and September 10.
‘‘True, Remain enjoys a lead in the polls. But that lead remains a narrow one, and there is little sign of it growing,’’ said John Curtice, of The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).
‘‘It rests quite heavily on the preferences of those who did not vote two years ago, and who by two to one now say they would back Remain. Getting them to turn out to vote in any second ballot might yet prove a considerable challenge.’’
London and Brussels are racing to agree a Brexit deal but Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposals have been criticised by both the European Union and Eurosceptics within her party.
She has ruled out having a second referendum, but the main opposition Labour Party is open to a second public vote with the option of staying in the bloc, its Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, said earlier this week.
Campaigners on both sides of the argument have been stepping up their efforts in recent weeks as some Brexiteers argue for a cleaner break from the EU and Remainers say ending membership as now planned would do economic damage to Britain. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson called on May yesterday to rip up her Brexit proposals, ratcheting up the pressure on her as she prepares to face her divided party at its annual conference in two days’ time.
‘‘This is the moment to change the course of the negotiations and do justice to the ambitions and potential of Brexit,’’ he wrote in the Daily Telegraph, adding a sixpoint alternative plan for Brexit.
‘‘There has been a collective failure of government, and a collapse of will by the British establishment, to deliver on the mandate of the people.’’
Johnson, one the most prominent campaigners for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, resigned in July as foreign secretary over May’s Brexit proposals, which he cast in his 4600word Daily Telegraph article as ‘‘enforced vassalage’’.
May has repeatedly said her Brexit proposals are the only viable ones.