No10 leaked poll: Most voters don’t care about the backstop

NEARLY three in four Leave voters believe MPs should ‘stop focusing on issues like the backstop’ and vote for Theresa May’s deal, leaked polling data reveals.

And more than half of those who backed Brexit at the historic 2016 referendum agree that, despite the Prime Minister’s deal not being perfect, the time has come for MPs to back it, according to Downing Street’s private polling.

In a last-ditch bid to convince her own MPs to fall in behind her, the Prime Minister is using the stark data seen by The Mail on Sunday to convince MPs that the public are on her side.

And she has warned them that the Conservatives face a Town Hall wipeout at May’s widespread English local council elections if Brexit is not resolved by then.

The Downing Street polling shows that by a margin of 66 to 11 per cent, voters agree that ‘MPs are playing party politics rather than getting behind the Prime Minister’. And 72 per cent of Leave voters agree that ‘MPs should stop focusing on issues like the backstop and instead just get Brexit done’. This is compared to just 11 per cent who disagree.

By a margin of 58 to 24 per cent, Leave voters agree that ‘the Prime Minister’s deal is not perfect, but no one was going to get a perfect deal and so MPs should back it and get Brexit done’.

And 59 per cent of Leave voters said ‘the Brexit process has gone on long enough so MPs should back the Prime Minister’s deal and get it done’, compared to 23 per cent who disagree. Pollsters on behalf of the Conservative Party surveyed 2,000 voters between February 21 and 24 this year.

Meanwhile, a separate survey from pollsters BMG on behalf of the newly formed Brexit Party found that 37 per cent of Tory voters would consider voting for the hardline Eurosceptic party if Britain’s EU exit is thwarted.

The poll also found 24 per cent of Labour voters would consider voting for the party backed by Nigel Farage if Brexit is delayed.