Brexit: Support for a second EU referendum is growing, finds poll

According to the results, more people also believed Brexit would have a 'negative' rather than 'positive' impact on the British economy

Brexit Secretary David Davis entered the second round of Brexit negotiations with the EU on Monday (AFP/Getty)

Support is growing for a second European Union referendum once the final terms of the Brexit deal are clear, according to a new poll that suggests a third of the public now back the proposition.

The survey by ICM pollsters for the Guardian found that momentum is growing around idea of a second referendum – advocated by the Liberal Democrats and the Green party – to hold another vote in two years’ time when ministers present the final deal on Britain’s exit to the public.

When respondents were provided with the statement “a second referendum to allow people to decide whether the UK leaves or not, based on the outcome of the negotiations”, 32 per cent said they agreed – a six point increase on the same survey six months’ ago.

But enthusiasts of a second referendum still have some way to go in convincing the majority, the poll also suggests, with 46 per cent of respondents agreeing that the UK should leave the bloc regardless of the outcome of the negotiations.

The poll came after David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, entered the second round of negotiations in Brussels but was criticised for taking part in less than a hour of discussions with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator. Shortly after declaring it was “time to get back to work”, Mr Davis had returned to London.

According to the results, more people also believed Brexit would have a “negative” rather than “positive” impact on the British economy, with 42 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. Despite this, the poll also found that more people were likely to feel “joy” as opposed to “despair” when Britain eventually leaves the bloc in March 2019.

On Friday, Tony Blair, the former Labour Prime Minister, admitted there was currently “no groundswell” for a second referendum on membership of the EU but said it is still entirely possible for the will of the British people to change as the economic effects of a hard Brexit become more apparent.

In an eight-page article on Brexit, Mr Blair also urged politicians to include the option of negotiating for Britain to stay within a Europe itself prepared to reform and “meet us halfway” on the free movement of people.

Describing Britain’s exit from the European Union as the “biggest political decision since the Second World War”, he added: “Given what is at stake, and what, daily we are discovering about the costs of Brexit, how can it be right deliberately to take off the table the option of compromise between Britain and Europe so that Britain stays within a reformed Europe?”