Only a quarter of Britons believe their country should remain outside the European Union, the lowest proportion since the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to the British Social Attitudes survey published today.
Britain will hold a general election on July 4, the first since the country officially left the EU in 2020. Despite Europe being a long-standing divisive issue in British politics, Brexit has barely featured in the election campaign so far.
The British Social Attitudes survey, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research, found that 24% of respondents said Britain should be outside the EU, compared to 36% in 2019 and 41% in 2016.
The survey also found that the impact of Brexit on issues such as the economy and immigration is now viewed more negatively than in 2019 when the last election took place. This shift is particularly notable among those who voted to leave the EU in 2016.
Around 40% of Leave voters feel that the economy is worse off because of Brexit, compared to 18% who felt the same in 2019. Almost two-thirds now believe that immigration has increased as a result of leaving the EU, compared to just 5% who expected this to happen beforehand.
“In short, it seems that for many of those who voted for Brexit, it hasn’t turned out as they expected,” the report states, co-authored by pollster John Curtis.
The survey of 5,578 people, conducted last year from September 12 to October 31, also found that public trust in the government has plummeted to record lows, with 45% saying they believe that ‘almost never’ does the British government put the needs of the country above the interests of its political party.
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