Majority of voters want Brexit to be reversed, says Britain’s leading pollster

Voters see Brexit as a “huge disappointment” and “not worth it”, according to Britain’s leading pollsters, leading to rising support for rejoining the EU.

Professor Sir John Curtice says the decision to leave the EU has “failed the test of time” and has been blamed for worsening immigration and the economy.

He writes in Sir Anthony Seldon’s serialized book ‘The Brexit Effect’ Independent He says: “The 2016 referendum failed to resolve the debate over whether Britain should be in or outside the EU. The country now finds itself outside an institution that at least a modest majority want to be a member of.”

“At least for now, a significant portion of voters have decided that being outside the EU is not worth it.”

Serialization is part of a new campaign Independent on how Britain could rebuild its broken ties with Europe. The Europe: Road to Return campaign will feature news, analysis, interviews and live events examining the impact of Brexit and what our relationship with Europe should look like.

Sir John said support for Brexit had “changed markedly” according to 500 polls taken since 2016.

There has been a “determined and consistent move away from Brexit” over the last five years. Sir John writes: “Consequently, the success of the 2016 election as an exercise in direct democracy is questionable.

“It was recognized that for many the economy was, in practice, much worse than they had expected.”

Similarly, there was an expectation that immigration would be lower if the UK left the EU. However, while immigration from other EU countries decreased, there was a sharp increase in immigration from non-EU countries.

“Voters appear to have reacted to this unexpected experience by blaming Brexit,” says Sir John.

Brexit was thought to make little practical difference to the country’s ability to make its own decisions, according to Sir John.

“As a result, Brexit has been a disappointment for many voters. Many thought leaving the EU would reduce immigration. In practice, many believe it has reached higher levels.

“While some have always had doubts about the economic consequences of leaving, there is now a widespread view that the economy has worsened as a result.”

He also said there was a belief that Britain now had less influence in the world.

“Brexit has largely failed to meet the expectations of Leave voters. This suggests that it is not surprising that support for remaining outside the EU is much lower than it was in 2016, when a narrow majority voted to Leave.”

Sir John concludes: “The slim vote in favor of Brexit has not stood the test of time well. Within a year, the balance of opinion had already begun to tip against the decision, and when the UK left, a clear, if narrow, majority was against.”

“A few years after we left, that gap was double digits.

“On this issue, Leave voters’ once-held hopes for Brexit appear to have been completely dashed.”

Sir John says it has also been decided that claims that Brexit will lead to Britain regaining its sovereignty have been proven false.

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