UK polls
The seven-year itch for Brexit: the majority of Britons are back in favor of the EU
Romanian supermarket in Boston, the city in the UK where support for Brexit was highest.
© Benedikt von Imhoff / DPA
The result was close but momentous. Seven years ago, 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU. But Brexit is not going according to plan. A majority now wants a return to the EU.
A hangover instead of Brexit jubilation in Great Britain: Seven years after the Brexit referendum, a majority of Britons would like to return to the EU. On average, 59 percent of people in the UK were in favor of re-entry, the well-known political scientist John Curtice summarized in the Guardian on the seventh anniversary. However, another referendum is not in sight.
Entrenched Brexit views
On 23 June 2016, 52 per cent of UK voters had voted in favor of Brexit, with 48 per cent opposed. Despite the change in mood, there can be no question of “Bregret”, a word created from “Brexit” and “regret” (repentance). Because three quarters of the then Brexit voters would still make the same decision again, as Curtice explains. “Many people’s views on Brexit are ingrained,” Curtice wrote.
According to a survey commissioned by the Tony Blair Institute and published, a good third of those surveyed agree with the status quo: 36 percent do not want to return to the EU, and 34 percent still think leaving is the right thing to do, like that of survey conducted by Deltapoll. The think tank, founded by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, stressed that young people in particular, who had now reached voting age, were more pro-European than older groups of voters.
Only one in ten Britons sees Brexit as a success, according to a survey conducted on Thursday by the London think tank UK in a Changing Europe. A majority of 52 percent of Brits, on the other hand, believe that Brexit was not a success. Just as many believe that leaving the EU has hurt the UK economy. Even among those who voted to leave, only 18 percent said they were satisfied with the outcome.
Three quarters don’t trust politics
According to the survey, regardless of the opinion on Brexit, the reputation of politicians in the country has now been badly shaken. Three quarters of all respondents said they had lost confidence in British politicians in recent years.
The Tony Blair Institute has called on the government to voluntarily commit to EU rules on product standards and food safety. This could be a basis for negotiations with the international community about a closer trade relationship.
“Our poll results show that a large majority of Britons believe that Brexit is not working in its current form and would welcome the UK moving closer to the EU,” said study author Anton Spisak.
Under the incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, London and Brussels drew closer. At the time of ex-Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, the relationship was severely disturbed. However, the conservative British government is still under pressure from hardliners who are calling for greater use to be made of the room for maneuver gained through Brexit and to get rid of laws from the days of membership. Tory MP John Redwood tweeted that the people voted to take back control.
Schotten: Brexit has damaged us
The Scottish regional government emphasized that Brexit had severely damaged the northernmost part of the British country. The only way “to meaningfully reverse that damage and restore the benefits Scotland has previously experienced is for an independent Scotland to rejoin the European Union,” said Minister Angus Robertson. A clear majority of Scots voted against Brexit in 2016.
So far, London has failed to secure deals that would make up for losses in trade with the EU. The promise that after Brexit fewer people would immigrate to Great Britain and that this would automatically lead to better-paid jobs for Britons did not materialize either. Migration increased. However, a public debate is unlikely. As determined by UK in a Changing Europe, a majority (54 percent) simply does not want to hear anything more about Brexit.