More Brits than ever say Brexit was wrong choice: YouGov survey

Authored by reuters.com and submitted by BlitzOrion

LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - (This July 17 story has been corrected to show that 55% would vote to remain in the EU in a re-run of the referendum and not rejoin now in paragraph 3)

The proportion of Britons who say Brexit was a mistake hit a new record high this month, a survey from pollsters YouGov showed on Tuesday.

With few economic benefits to show for the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union, 57% of Britons said the decision to leave the European Union in 2016 was the wrong one, compared with 32% who thought it was correct.

More than half - 55% - said they would vote to remain in the EU, against 31% who said they would stay out, if the referendum were to be held again.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in May that Brexit is delivering benefits, citing his flagship policy of freeports and VAT cuts that he said would make beer and sanitary products cheaper.

Economists say freeports - special zones containing tax and customs reliefs and simplified trade regulations - are unlikely to boost Britain's economy but may have limited value as a regional development tool.

British business investment has barely grown since mid-2016, in contrast with other advanced economies. While Brexit-supporting economists point to the fact that capital grew strongly in the years leading up 2016 and was bound to slow, business surveys point to Brexit as one cause of the stagnation.

The YouGov survey of more than 2,000 British people showed 63% now regard Brexit as more of a failure than a success, compared with 12% who saw it as more of a success. A further 18% said it was neither.

Reporting by Andy Bruce. Editing by Andrew MacAskill

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Bonezone420 on July 18th, 2023 at 10:21 UTC »

lol damn near everyone who hadn't been in support of brexit had spent countless hours patiently explaining why it was a bad and flawed idea that no one should support, only for people to support it anyway then sit there throwing a tantrum as everything those people predicted came true like clockwork.

tehfly on July 18th, 2023 at 07:56 UTC »

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in May that Brexit is delivering benefits, citing his flagship policy of freeports and VAT cuts that he said would make beer and sanitary products cheaper.

Brexit is delivering benefits by forcing the government to remove taxes from imports?

I think Sunak and I have vastly different views on the word "benefits".

MerryMagnum on July 18th, 2023 at 06:55 UTC »

I just like how "What does brexit mean" was the highest Google term in the UK, AFTER they all voted.