Four out of five voters who say Brexit has been a failure think Boris Johnson is to blame, poll finds
Almost two-thirds of Britons believe Brexit is a failure, according to a poll, and they mostly blame Boris Johnson.
Despite slogans on Leave campaign buses claiming £350 million is being sent to the European Union every week, many believe Britain’s exit has failed due to the damage it has done to the economy.
The new figures, which are part of a major report to be released on Friday, come just days after Rachel Reeves warned that Brexit was having a bigger impact on the economy than critics had predicted.
As the Chancellor prepares for a Budget later this month in which it is widely predicted he will either have to raise taxes or break fiscal rules, ministers have increasingly blamed the country’s poor financial situation on the decision to leave the EU.
Of the 62 per cent who say Brexit has failed, 8 in 10 (80 per cent) blame Boris Johnson, who was a high-profile Leave campaigner before becoming prime minister. In 2019, he won a large majority in the early general elections held to “get Brexit done”.
Just 7 in 10 (69 per cent) said they held Nigel Farage responsible.
A YouGov poll of 4,368 adults, commissioned by Best for Britain, found that of the nearly two-thirds who said Brexit had failed, 57 per cent cited the damage it would do to the economy.
Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, said: “Politics are finally catching up with both public opinion and economic reality. “No serious person is still arguing that Brexit is anything other than a disastrous failure that raises prices for consumers and bureaucratic costs for businesses.
“The Chancellor has taken the important first step by acknowledging the extent of the damage and now the government must follow his accurate assessment to advance the areas of EU-UK cooperation identified in May to reduce household costs and chart the path to meaningful economic growth.”
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned that Brexit will have a negative impact on the UK’s economic growth “for the foreseeable future”, highlighting that the UK’s potential growth rate has fallen from 2.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent over the last 15 years.
The Vote Leave Campaign infamously claims Brexit will mean £350 million a week going to the NHS.
