Poll says public will blame May for no-deal Brexit and new vote will keep us in EU
MOST voters will pin the blame for a bad Brexit outcome on Theresa May and the Government, a poll has suggested, as the internal wrangling within the Conservative Party over the possibility of a no-deal scenario continued.
The findings of a massive online survey by Yougov, undertaken in the past week and involving more than 10,000 adults, also pointed to a reversal of the 2016 EU referendum.
Peter Kellner, the former president of Yougov, noted how the numbers showed “Britain would vote to remain in the EU by 53 per cent to 47% if a referendum were held now”.
The super-poll comes after Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, on Tuesday claimed UK politicians were already trying to pin the blame for the possibility of a no-deal on Brussels.
The Yougov snapshot, commissioned by the People’s Vote campaign, said 62% of voters felt a bad Brexit deal would be “mainly the fault of the Government” while just 24% disagreed.
As the conference season nears, with Brexit set to dominate the proceedings of all four main parties, even Conservative supporters were, according to the poll, more likely to blame the Government for a bad Brexit deal; by 48% to 43%.
Some 58% of people who voted Conservative in last year’s General Election thought it unlikely Britain would get a good deal while 84% of Tory supporters felt the handling of the Brexit process had been a mess.
Labour’s Chukka Umunna, on behalf of the People’s Vote campaign, said: “The Brexiters have tried to blame this mess on everyone from judges and civil servants to ‘experts’ or those MPS who choose to stand up for their constituents.
“Now they are trying to say this whole botched process is the fault of Europe. But it won’t work because people know the problem is down to the way they have handled Brexit itself.”
Meanwhile, David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s effective deputy, took to the airwaves to support
Philip Hammond after the Chancellor came under fire from Brexiters for warning of dire economic consequences of a no-deal – just hours after Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab played down the effects of Britain failing to get agreement with Brussels on its withdrawal.
Brexit-backing Tories reacted furiously after Mr Hammond, in a leaked letter to Tory Remainer colleague Nicky Morgan, pointed to provisional Treasury analysis, which claimed GDP could fall and borrowing could be about
£80 billion a year higher by
2033/34 under a no-deal scenario.
Pro-brexit backbencher Marcus Fysh accused the Chancellor of peddling another “dodgy Project Fear”.
But Mr Lidington sought to downplay the row, stressing how the Treasury data was “nothing new” and that Mr Hammond was “absolutely committed” to the objectives the Government had set out in the Chequers Plan.