‘Brexit regret’: 30% of Leave voters want closer relationship with EU

‘Greater pessimism’ about impact of Brexit, says pollster John Curtice

Pro-Brexit supporters in Parliament Square (PA)

Almost one in three Leave voters want the UK to have a closer post-Brexit relationship with the EU, new polling has found.

In a sign of “Brexit regret”, 30 per cent of Leave voters said Britain should now forge closer ties with Brussels, while only 13 per cent want the country to be more distant.

Some 47 per cent of all voters favour a closer relationship with the bloc, compared with 14 per cent who want to be further apart, the Savanta ComRes survey for PoliticsHome found.

“The fact that more Leavers told us they would like a closer relationship with the EU than those who’d like a more distant relationship with the EU is really interesting,” said Savanta’s political director Chris Hopkins.

The pollster added: “While the idea is not necessarily proven, it does play into the murmurings of Brexit regret.”

Polling guru Prof John Curtice said there has been “greater pessimism” about the impact of Brexit and “a detectable majority in favour of joining the EU” over the past 12 months.

“It’s very difficult to sell the idea that the policy has been economically successful when the economy is going down the tubes,” said Prof Curtice. “It’s a fundamental problem for the government and for the Leave side of the argument.”

The Savanta ComRes poll also found that almost one in three people (29 per cent) say Brexit is the main reason for labour shortages affecting hospitality, agriculture and the NHS.

Some 34 per cent per cent said Brexit was partly to blame for the problem, while 25 per cent do not believe it is a reason for the issue.

“There is definitely a sense that the process has been bungled and that the benefits which Leavers were promised haven’t really materialised,” Mr Hopkins said.

Only one in three who voted for Brexit six years ago believe it has been a success, according to the most recent YouGov poll. Overall, only 15 per cent of voters thought Brexit had been a success while 53 per cent said it had been a failure.

YouGov also found that if another referendum on EU membership was to be held, 47 per cent would vote to rejoin and 34 per cent would vote to stay out, while 10 per cent did not know and 8 per cent wouldn’t vote.

In October, a Redfield and Wilton Strategies poll found record support for reversing Brexit at 57 per cent, compared to just 43 per cent who want to stay out of the EU.

The latest poll comes as it emerged that hundreds of voluntary groups have had to close or reduce operations because of problems with the government’s replacement for EU funding.

The Wales Council for Voluntary Action told The Guardian that allocations for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund came through too late for “hundreds of organisations”.

Meanwhile, the government is refusing to publish an estimate of the economic benefits of its latest planned Brexit trade deal.

The Department for International Trade has decided not to publish a figure for an enhanced agreement with Israel, telling The Independent that it “isn’t appropriate”.

“Time and time again, ministers are avoiding scrutiny and transparency on their trade policy – it’s little wonder when it isn’t delivering for British businesses and communities,” said Labour shadow trade minister Gareth Thomas.