More Britons want to exit EU than stay

A NEW opinion poll published yesterday showed more Britons want to leave the European Union than to stay ahead of a referendum to be held by 2017.

The poll is the first to put the EU exit camp in the lead.

Some 43% of respondents said they would vote to leave, 40% would vote to stay and 17% are still undecided, according to the poll by Survation research agency for the right-wing Mail on Sunday newspaper.

The survey, conducted online on September 3 and 4 with 1 004 respondents, had a margin of error of two percentage points.

Survation’s last poll published at the beginning of July showed 45% in favour of staying, 37% for leaving and 18% undecided.

Yesterday’s poll also showed that 22% of those who wanted Britain to stay said they could change their mind if the migrants crisis worsened.

And 29% of respondents also told pollsters that Britain should not accept any more Syrian refugees.

British lawmakers in the House of Commons are expected to debate and vote today on a draft bill to allow the referendum, which will then pass to the House of Lords for final approval.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would campaign to stay in the EU only if he could negotiate reforms to restore more sovereignty powers to Britain. — AFP