55% of Britons now say it was wrong for the UK to leave the EU, with just 11% seeing Brexit as more of a success than a failure
On 31 January 2020, Britain officially left the European Union, putting into action the 52% to 48% vote to ‘Leave’ the EU at the 2016 referendum. Now, five years on, how do Britons feel that Brexit has gone and what do they want our future relationship with Europe to look like?
Just three in ten Britons (30%) now say that it was right for the UK to vote to leave the EU, compared to 55% who say it was wrong for the country to vote for Brexit in 2016. This is the lowest proportion of the public saying that Britain was right to vote to leave since YouGov began asking this question in the aftermath of the referendum.
One in six Leave voters (18%) now say that it was wrong for Britain to choose to leave the EU, although 66% still say Britain made the right decision. By contrast, just 7% of Remainers now think it was right for the UK to leave, compared to 88% who still think a vote for Brexit was wrong.
Additionally, among the youngest Britons, who were unable to vote in the 2016 referendum, there is little belief that the referendum went the right way. Three-quarters of 18-24 year olds (75%) say that Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU, against just one in ten (10%) who say the UK made the right choice.
How do Britons think Brexit has gone?
More than six in ten Britons (62%) say that Brexit has so far been more of a failure, against just 11% who feel that it has been more of a success, though a more noncommittal 20% of Britons consider it to be neither a success nor failure.
Notably, even Leave voters are more likely to consider Brexit to have gone badly than well, with 32% labelling it more of a failure so far, compared to 22% describing it as more of a success. Four in ten Leave voters (38%), however, see Britain’s exit from the EU to have been neither a success nor a failure.
Remain voters are more uniform in their judgement, with 87% saying it has been a failure and just 3% believing Brexit to have been a success.
Of the Britons who say that Brexit has been more a failure, 63% say that Brexit was always going to be a failure, with there having been nothing that any government could have done to make it a success. This is against 27% who feel that Brexit could have been a success, but the way in which it was implemented made it fail.
What relationship do Britons now want with Europe?
With many Britons having judged Brexit to have gone poorly, it is unsurprising that there is clear support among the public for a closer relationship with the EU. Indeed, only 27% of Britons support the UK’s relationship with the EU remaining where it is.
The option with the broadest support is Britain having a closer relationship with the EU without formally rejoining any part of it. Nearly two-thirds of Britons (64%) would support such a policy, including 60% of Leave voters and 53% of Reform UK voters.
But a full rejoining of the European Union is not far behind, with 55% of Britons saying they would support a complete undoing of Brexit. In fact, the 39% of the public saying they ‘strongly support’ Britain rejoining the EU outnumber the 33% who say they oppose rejoining to any degree.
Around half of the public (48-50%) would also support Britain rejoining the Single Market and Customs Union, options opposed by just one in five Britons (20-21%).
Unsurprisingly, support for rejoining European institutions is highest among Remainers, with 83% favouring a return to full membership of the EU and 74% supporting the UK rejoining the Single Market and Customs Union by themselves.
But limited support can also be found among those who initially endorsed Brexit. One in five Leave voters (20%) support rejoining the EU, with this rising to 27% for the Customs Union and 32% for the Single Market, although more Leavers are opposed to a rejoining of any kind.
But although public support exists for rejoining, Britons do not necessarily see the issue as a priority, with just 8% of Britons saying that Britain’s relationship with the EU is one of the most important issues currently facing the country.
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Photo: Getty
