Majority Of Voters Now Back A Second Brexit Referendum, Poll Shows

A petition for a new vote has gained 250,000 supporters.
Anti-Brexit demonstrators fill Parliament Square in central London, during the People's Vote march in June 2018.
Anti-Brexit demonstrators fill Parliament Square in central London, during the People's Vote march in June 2018.
Empics Entertainment

A majority of Britons back a second referendum on Brexit for the first time, a new opinion poll has found.

But while voters have conceded another vote on the UK’s exit deal is needed, they have not changed their minds in significant numbers over the UK’s membership of the EU, according to a YouGov poll for The Times newspaper.

The study of more than 1,600 voting adults conducted on Wednesday and Thursday found 42% said there should be a new referendum on the final exit deal, while 40% said there should not.

Surveys over the past two months have shown a steady increase in support for another referendum, amid a parliamentary deadlock and as Theresa May sought to promote her Chequers plan for leaving the bloc.

It comes as anger among Brexiteers, coupled with the resignations of Brexit-backing cabinet members David Davis and Boris Johnson, combined with Brussels’ apparent rejection of May’s new plan this week.

Public support for a new referendum is split along Leave/Remain lines, with just 19% of Leavers backing a new poll, compared with 66% of those who voted to Remain.

On Thursday, chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier said May’s Chequers proposal was not acceptable to the bloc.

But, appearing alongside Barnier during a press conference in Brussels, new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, told him: “Michel, we’ve got work to do.”

The poll was published a day after footballer-turned-broadcaster Gary Lineker backed a campaign pushing for a second referendum on Brexit.

The Match Of The Day host is joining the People’s Vote group, which has launched a series of rallies and protests across the UK calling for the public to have a say on the final Brexit deal.

The group’s “Summer of Action” is intended to be a grassroots effort to make the case for a fresh vote in towns and cities across the UK.

Meanwhile, a petition by The Independent news website calling for a second poll gained more than 250,000 signatories in just two days.

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