Brexit: Record low of just 32% now think UK was right to leave EU

Jump to contentSign up to our newslettersSubscribeNewsSportsVoicesCultureLifestyleTravelPremiumJust 32 per cent of British voters now think the UK was right to leave the EU, a new poll has found.The figure from pollster YouGov is the lowest on record and the latest continuation of a trend stretching back to last year.A full 56 per cent now explicitly think Britain was wrong to leave with the rest saying they don’t know.The figure comes after ‘rejoin’ took a record 14 point lead in a separate poll by Redfield and Wilton Strategies last month, which asked how people would vote in another EU referendum.Respected political scientist Professor Sir John Curtice said at the time of that survey’s release that the UK’s worsening economic conditions appeared to be driving increased scepticism about Brexit and that it could deepen further.Yesterday the governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey said the UK’s economy was performing dramatically worse than the eurozone or US.And MPs on the Treasury Select Committee were told Brexit had added six percentage points to food inflation in the UK specifically, against a global backdrop of rising prices.This week Rishi Sunak also appeared to abandon hopes of signing a promised Brexit trade deal with US by the next election – a pledge made by his predecessor Boris Johnson.And former environment secretary George Eustice told the Commons that the deal the UK had managed to sign was Australi was not actually very good. The deal is expected to shrink the UK’s farming sector according to the government’s own predictions.But Mr Sunak has in recent weeks repeatedly refused to acknowledge damage done to trade and the economy by leaving the EU.Speaking to reporters at the G20 summit in Bali he rejected an opportunity to do so – only saying that all countries had ‘idiosyncratic’ factors.Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statementPAEmma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, LondonReutersLesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South YorkshirePAMembers of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statementEPAEngland celebrate winning the men’s T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, AustraliaAAP Image/ReutersThe City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor’s ShowPACity workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd’s of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World WarPAA grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morningPAAustralia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, LondonPAA migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, KentPAHandout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorwayPAA grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UKPADemonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of ParliamentAFP via Getty ImagesA peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty ImagesFlorence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyong’o attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in LondonGettyA red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, ScotlandReutersEngland’s Tara-Jane Stanley scores their side’s seventh try against Brazil during the Women’s Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, LeedsPAGB’s James Hall competes during the men’s parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in LiverpoolAFP/GettyPeople dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, DorsetPAMembers of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a ‘Just Stop Oil’ protest, in LondonReutersA cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in LondonReuters98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay’s Galleria in central LondonPAA meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichmentPAKing Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new governmentPARishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative PartyReutersThe Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market’s annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemicPASculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the ‘Planet A’ Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire townPABritain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignationAFP/GettySalmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migrationPAJust Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the groupPAHundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator’s Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in FifePAA protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction RebellionAFP/GettyA member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a “Just Stop Oil” protest, in London, BritainREUTERSGermany’s Women’s double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, PembrokeshirePAFamily and mourners arrive at St Michael’s Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on FridayPAMotorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colourPAA woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrisePAPolice officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, LondonPAA drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, LondonPATimothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, LondonPATwo young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublin’s Phoenix park as rutting season beginsPAThe Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern IrelandPAGreenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conferencePAPrime Minister Liz Truss and Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in BirminghamAFP/GettyBritish artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist’s trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodlesPAErling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City’s second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3.Manchester City FC/GettyProtesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don’t Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the dayAFP/GettyBritish Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her government’s mini-budgetGettyThe Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i’r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 yearsPACriminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the GovernmentPAThe latest YouGov survey shows that one in five people who voted Leave, 19 per cent, now believes it was wrong to leave the EU, also the highest figure to date – though 70 per cent still say it was the right decision.Nine in 10 remain voters say Britain was wrong to leave.But despite the strong public opinion shift towards wanting to rejoin the EU, no major political party is actively campaigning to do so.Labour leader Keir Starmer said again last month that there was no chance of his party taking Britain back into the EU.’It’s straight no from me. We’re not going back into the EU,’ he told LBC radio, adding that he wanted to ‘make Brexit work’.Even the Liberal Democrats, who in 2019 said they wanted to rejoin the EU without even putting it to a referendum, have only set out a tentative roadmap for rejoining the bloc’s economic single market.Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalismBy registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalistsAlready have an account? sign inRegistration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalismBy registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalistsAlready have an account? sign inPublic support for leaving the EU is low (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)PA WirePlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in