Just A Quarter Of British People Now Think The UK Should Be Outside The European Union
Just one quarter of British people now think the UK should be outside the European Union, it has been revealed.
The latest British Social Attitudes survey, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), also showed the majority believe the economy is worse off as a result of Brexit.
Despite the huge political and economic upheaval caused by Britain’s vote to leave the EU in 2016, the UK’s future relationship with the EU has hardly been mentioned during the general election campaign.
But according to the NatCen survey 5,578 adults across the country, support for being outside of the EU has fallen dramatically since the last election in 2019.
Back then, 36% said Britain should be outside the EU, down from 41% in 2016. Now, the figure now stands at just 24%.
And while 51% thought the economy would be worse off because of Brexit in 2019, that figurehas now soared to 71%.
Dr Mike Galsworthy, chair of European Movement UK, told HuffPost UK: “Throughout this general election that political candidates of all parties must acknowledge the elephant in the room – that Brexit isn’t working, and that public opinion is shifting.
“Just 24% now think we should be outside the EU. Brexit has failed. It is doing severe damage to the UK every single day. If there were Brexit benefits to be had, we would have seen them by now.
“There’s a reason that the current government’s election campaign has not talked about Brexit benefits - because there are none to talk about.”
Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, said: “After being repeatedly lied to about the supposed benefits of Brexit, it’s clear the public aren’t falling for it anymore, and no wonder with groceries costing the average household £250 more each year as a result.
“Our recent polling shows that support for closer UK-EU ties is the most popular option across all constituencies in Britain, and if the next government is serious about fixing the myriad problems we face, they must capitalise on public opinion and prioritise a closer relationship with our European neighbours to boost trade and get the economy growing again.”