WORCESTER’s enthusiasm for Brexit appears to be fading with 54 per cent now agreeing it was wrong for Britain to leave the EU, a new poll has claimed.
The same percentage of city voters who voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016 now appears to regret the result, according to UnHerd’s Britain 2023 survey.
But while more than half appear to regret the vote, there is no enthusiasm for any rejoin campaign according to the British news and opinion-based site.
Ahead of tomorrow’s (Tuesday) third anniversary of Britain’s departure from the EU, UnHerd has partnered with Focaldata to conduct a survey of 10,000 people across the country.
Pollsters asked the question: “Britain was wrong to leave the EU – Agree or disagree?” and in each case, respondents chose whether they agreed or disagreed, and how strongly.
Focaldata then analysed what the most predictive factors of each question were, including age, gender, working status, vote in the 2019 election and the EU referendum, and calculated estimates for each constituency.
This ‘multilevel regression and post-stratification’ technique or MRP, has been used with incredible accuracy to predict general elections.
Worcester’s results showed 37 per cent ‘strongly agreed’ with the statement – the same as the overall national figure – with a further 17 per cent ‘mildly agreeing’.
Some 17 per cent ‘strongly disagreed’ with the statement and a further 10 per cent ‘mildly disagreed’. The survey suggested 19 per cent of respondants neither agreed or disagreed.
James Kanagasooriam, Chief Research Officer at Focaldata, said: “The dovetailing of the Brexit divide and the country’s left-right axis has been ongoing for some time, but only with the receding waters of a depressed conservative vote has this pattern become so visible.
“The leave vote is fading and becoming less distinct from the conservative vote.”
The issue of Brexit has dominated politics since the referendum in June 2016.
Worcester’s MP Robin Walker has consistently supported the Conservative Government’s attempts to reach a deal.
Meanwhile the former Brexit Party’s candidate for the 2019 General Election, Martin Potter, called for a ‘clean break’ exit from the union before he was stood down as a candidate for the poll.
What do you think? Do you stand by your vote of 2016? Have you changed your mind, if so why? We’d like to hear everyone’s views
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