Two-thirds of UK voters now support plan for soft Brexit

THERESA May is facing a civil war which threatens to split her Conservative Party after a new poll showed that her arch-rival has caught the public mood in the UK on Brexit.

A Mail on Sunday Survation poll found that more than two thirds of voters there, 69%, support Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond’s call to retain access to the Customs Union, while just 31% back the hard-Brexit position of leaving it. Mr Hammond has been spearheading criticism of the hard Brexit stance of leadership contenders Boris Johnson and David Davis.

Mr Hammond has infuriated Leave-supporting ministers by arguing in the Cabinet that British jobs and prosperity depend on retaining the benefits of the customs union – even if only for a transitionary period to allow them to adjust to the new trading conditions.

Now, pro-Brexit MPs fear that he is mounting a ‘stealth coup’ by exploiting Mrs May’s post-election weakness to assert his vision of leaving over her original preference to walk away from talks if Brussels denied the UK an acceptable deal. The Brexiteers counter-briefed their suspicion that, as an ‘instinctive Treasury Remainer’, Mr Hammond is trying to exploit Mrs May’s weakness by trying to ‘water down’ Brexit.

The poll points to a growing public fear in the UK about the consequences of a ‘cliff-edge departure’ from the EU when Brexit talks conclude in March 2019 – possibly because the political turmoil caused by the inconclusive general election result has magnified people’s feelings of insecurity.

Opinion is still firmly against Mrs May’s war-cry earlier this year that she could walk away from the negotiating table because ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’.

The poll shows that 65% of those with a view were against walking away, while only 35% agreed with the tactic.

And support is rocketing for the idea of a second referendum to be held on whether to accept the terms of the final Brexit deal with the EU.

A total of 53% of those with a view back a vote, while 47% oppose, a margin of six points.

When the question was asked in April, the majority was against a second referendum, with only 46% backing a vote and 54% opposed.

However, arch-Brexiteers remain determined to keep Mrs May firmly committed to a hard Brexit. One former minister warned last night that a ‘soft’ break with Brussels would be a ‘betrayal’ of the referendum vote to leave the EU.

David Jones, who was sacked as Brexit minister by the prime minister last week, warned that Mrs May’s government would face the fury of voters if it now turned its back on a clean break with the EU.

Mr Jones told The Mail on Sunday that trying to keep the UK in the EU single market or the Customs Union would be seen as an ‘absolute betrayal of trust’.

53% want to vote on any deal with Brussels