Study sees significant fall in Leave backers

Britons are growing ever more pessimistic about the state of Brexit negotiations, with even diehard leavers angry with how the past year has gone for their cause, a wide-ranging new study has found. The research by Britain Thinks found a significant decrease in the strongest supporters of Brexit and an increase in the most pro-Remain voices. Yet, the researchers also found little consensus for a way out of the chaos. Voters were generally negative about the prime minister’s Brexit deal and became even more so when the deal was referred to as “Theresa May’s”. However, the study also found support for a second referendum had slipped slightly since June and a majority were deeply concerned about the prospect of ‘no-deal’. The analysis, carried out over the weekend, is based on the views of voters who participated in the thinktank’s “Brexit Diaries” study from 2017, which had mapped the opinions of 52 Leave voters and 48 Remain voters, as well as a poll of more than 2,000 voters. The study had categorised voters into “diehards” who backed Brexit enthusiastically, “cautious optimists” of both Leavers and Remainers who were hopeful of making a success of Brexit, “accepting pragmatists” of disappointed Remainers who believed the referendum result should be honoured, and finally the “devastated pessimists” who could not see any positives to leaving the EU. Researchers found the number of “diehards” had shrunk significantly, from a third of the public to just over a quarter. The number of “devastated pessimists” has risen by 5% – overtaking the “diehards” as the largest number of voters. Both the diehards and the cautious optimists in the study were negative about the prime minister’s deal, calling it “exasperating”, “uncertain” and “frustrating”. Overall, 44% agreed with the description that the deal was “the worst of all worlds”. “A very diluted and watered-down deal attempting to please everyone whilst ending up pleasing no one,” one diehard voter said. “Unlikely to be voted through by MPs and therefore somewhat pointless in over-analysing.” One of the study’s cautious optimists said the prime minister “has negotiated a worse deal than we currently had and I’m finding it hard to trust her”. In the survey, 44% of British voters thought they would be worse off economically for the next three years, compared with 30% who did not, but 45% said they had higher hopes for the UK having greater sovereignty compared with 26% who did not. More than half of Britons – 56% – said they were worried about a no-deal Brexit.