Majority of people in UK think it was wrong to leave EU, poll shows

Survey for Tony Blair Institute finds that nearly 80 per cent of people believe the UK should have a closer relationship with the EU

Boris Johnson, the prime minister at the time, addresses supporters in Manchester, England, in 2019. AP

Seven years on from the Brexit referendum, more than half of the people in the UK believe that it was wrong to leave the EU, a poll has shown.

The poll found that 34 per cent still believe that Brexit was the correct decision, based on a survey of 1,525 adults carried out at the start of June by Deltapoll for the Tony Blair Institute.

The results also suggest that 18 per cent of Leave voters now believe that the decision was wrong.

Nearly 80 per cent believe that the UK should have a closer relationship with the EU in the future, with 43 per cent wanting the country to rejoin the bloc and 13 per cent preferring a return to the single market only.

The poll found a little more than a fifth of people support a closer relationship with the EU, although not as a member or as part of the single market.

The data forms part of a new report that focuses on how the UK can improve its post-Brexit relationship with the EU.

Authors Anton Spisak and Christos Tsoulakis also caution that the “views of those who voted in the 2016 referendum do not appear to have changed dramatically”.

“Instead, a key factor in this change is the attitudes of those respondents aged between 18 and 24 who did not vote in 2016 but largely consider the decision to leave as wrong,” the report says.

“Most of the shift appears attributable to younger people entering the electorate rather than a significant portion of those who voted Leave changing their minds.”

Among the proposals set out by the institute include encouraging the government to commit to a voluntary alignment with EU regulations on goods, including product rules and food safety standards.

The Sir Tony Blair-backed think tank suggests this could be a precursor to negotiations with the bloc on closer regulatory alignment on sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

The report also suggests linking the UK and the EU’s emissions trading systems, as well as agreeing on a reciprocal exchange programme for young people while also improving mobility for business people.

It also calls for a so-called strategic pillar within the current trade agreement that would act as the basis for a joint framework on foreign policy and defence.

“Our polling shows that there is a large majority of the British public who recognise that Brexit in its current form isn’t working and would like to see the UK moving closer to the EU,” said Mr Spisak, head of political leadership at the institute.

“This creates a substantial political space to move the debate forward from refighting the old battles about whether Brexit was right or wrong, to discussing what an improved future relationship with the EU should look like.

“The EU will always remain a key strategic ally, and it is absurd that the bloc has deeper trading arrangements with Israel and Georgia, better regulatory recognition on food-safety standards with Canada and New Zealand, and deeper mechanisms for political co-operation with nations including Australia and Japan.

“Any future British government that wants to improve the relationship with the EU will need a carefully considered strategic plan – and make a clear-eyed offer to the other side. Asking the EU nicely cannot succeed as a negotiating strategy.”