Bregret behind the corner for Theresa May

8 years ago - Published in Finance, Fundamental Analysis

More Brits now believe Brexit is a bad idea than a good one for the first time since the shock referendum result, according to a new poll by YouGov. Asked "in hindsight, was Britain right or wrong to vote to leave the EU?", the YouGov poll in The Times newspaper found that 45% said wrong (up two), while 43% said right (down three), meanwhile, 12% said they didn’t know.

More Remainers than Brexiteers believed they’d made the right decision, with 89% of remain voters saying the result was the wrong decision, compared with 85% of leave voters who still backed exiting the EU.
Less pleasing for many Remainers were some of YouGov’s other findings. The Tories were the only party who people thought had a coherent message on Brexit, with 50% saying they had been clear and 31% unclear, reported The Times.
More respondents favoured a hard Brexit (43%) over a soft one (36%), and more people would trust the Tories under Theresa May to negotiate leaving the EU than Labour under Jeremy Corbyn – a sizeable 45% to 16%. The poll questioned 1,590 adults on the 25th and 26th April. 

"This is the first time that more people have said the referendum came out with the wrong result and suggests that the issue still divides the country," The Times said.

The findings suggest the country is still deeply split over the question of Britain’s future relationship with the EU at a time when voters are being asked to give Prime Minister Theresa May a mandate for her vision of Brexit, which includes severing links to EU institutions and its single market.

In the June 2016 referendum, 52% voted for Britain to leave the EU. Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has called a snap general election for June 8 in a bid to strengthen her majority in parliament heading into the Brexit negotiations with Brussels.

Asked who would make the best prime minister, 48% said May (down six), 18% said opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (up three), while 33% said they were not sure.

Asked what the top general election issues were, four main themes emerged: Brexit (64%), health (47%), immigration (36%) and the economy (35%).