A RESOUNDING majority of voters across the UK would vote to rejoin the European Union in a second referendum on the issue, newly published polling has suggested.
YouGov polling of British voters further found that more people than ever think the UK was wrong to choose Brexit, and that even a firm majority of Leave voters believe it is being handled badly.
In its headline figures, the damning polling found that some 61% of people would back rejoining the EU against just 39% who would support keeping Brexit in place.
With Don’t Knows included, people backing rejoin are still in the majority (51%) while those who back Brexit represent less than one-third (32%).
YouGov said the results were a “substantial change” from early 2021, where rejoin only narrowly led (42% vs 40%).
Much of the change seems to have come from Leave voters experiencing “bregret”. In early 2021, just 8% said they would back rejoin. In the most recent polling, conducted from July 13-14, 18% said they would vote to enter the EU.
YouGov also asked the similar question: how would Britons vote if the EU referendum were taking place in 2023?
It found that a clear majority (64%) would vote remain while 36% would vote leave. With Don’t Knows included, remain is still in the majority (55%) while leave represented less than one-third (31%).
The proportion of 2016 leave voters who would change their vote has doubled since the firm asked the same question in early 2021, from 9% to 18%.
Looking at “bregret”, YouGov asked voters whether the Uk had been right or wrong to vote for Brexit. Some 57% said it had been a mistake, “the highest figure YouGov has recorded to date”.
The results also found that 32% of voters think Brexit was the right decision, but 19% of leave voters have changed their mind and now agree that it was not.
Asked if Brexit had been a success, 63% of voters said it had been more of a failure. Just 12% of people said it had been more of a success than a failure, while 18% said it had been neither.
The YouGov poll further found that seven in ten British adults (70%) say the UK Government is handling Brexit badly, including 83% of Remain voters and 58% of Leave voters.
Ross Greer, a Green MSP and the party’s external affairs spokesperson, told The National it was “no wonder that so many people would now vote to rejoin the EU. Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster”.
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He went on: “It was built on a toxic combination of scaremongering, lies and deceit. The ‘sunny uplands’ promised by Leave campaigners turned out to be punishingly high inflation and prices in shops, massive curbs on our right to live and travel abroad, and an even harsher and more cruel immigration system.
“That is why the people of Scotland voted so overwhelmingly against Brexit and why we have continued to oppose it.
“Rather than listening to the public, Labour is lining up with their Tory friends and doubling down on this chaotic mess.
“Every day it becomes clearer that the only way that Scotland can regain all that has been lost and to rejoin our friends in Europe is with the powers of a normal independent country.”
In the 2016 referendum, Scotland voted to remain in the EU by 62% to 38%. Every Scots council area had a remain majority.
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