Most Conservative party members prefer no deal Brexit to Theresa May’s plan

More than half the Tory membership support withdrawing from the European Union without an agreement, a poll has found

A majority of the Conservative party membership would prefer to crash out of the EU without a deal than to leave on Theresa May's agreed terms, according to a new survey. A poll of over 1,200 rank and file Tory members on behalf of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) found that in a two-way choice between no deal and May's deal, 64 per cent of would prefer a no deal Brexit on 29 March, with just 29 per cent preferring the plan currently negotiated. When offered a three-way choice that would allow Britain to stay in the EU,  57 per cent opted for no deal, with just 23 per cent backing Theresa May's deal and 15 per cent opting to remain a European Union member state. The polling also showed a Brexitesque divide over among members over whether the prime minister was doing a good job: 51 per cent said they thought May was doing “well" and 48 per cent said she was to some degree doing “badly”. Professor Tim Bale, of Queen Mary University of London, who led the research, said: "Grassroots Tories are even less impressed than Tory Members of Parliament (MPs). "If some of those MPs can be persuaded to back the Prime Minister’s deal, it won’t be because they’ve come under pressure to do so from their local party members over the Christmas break." He added: "The Tory rank and file, it seems, are convinced that no deal is better than May’s deal." The findings come as the prime minister gears up for a vote on her deal after it was delayed until after the parliamentary recess, following the prime minister going back to the EU to seek assurances over the Irish backstop. It will be debated from when parliament returns on 7 January, with a vote pencilled in for the following week.