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27th Jul 2018

A majority of people now support a second Brexit referendum

If at first you don't succeed...

Oli Dugmore

If at first you don’t succeed…

For the first time a majority of people now support a second Brexit referendum.

A YouGov poll for The Times shows that the British people are largely dissatisfied with Theresa May’s handling of negotiations with the EU and are now in favour of a second vote.

The same poll shows, however, that voting intentions in any potential second referendum are very similar to 2016, with 45 per cent backing remain, 42 per cent leave, nine per cent saying they don’t know and four per cent abstaining. Those numbers would obviously indicate a remain win, but most polls ahead of the referendum on June 23 2016 also indicated a similar result. And look how that turned out.

Theresa May looking for a way out

42 per cent of people said there should be a new referendum while 40 per cent said there should not, in a poll of 1,653 adults in the UK this week.

Unsurprisingly the majority of those calling for a second vote are Remainers, 66 per cent of those who voted to stay in 2016 wanting one compared to just 19 per cent of those who voted Leave.

Five months ago Theresa May ruled out the possibility of a second Brexit referendum, but after announcing that the UK will remain under EU law until 2020 she is now facing increased pressure from Leavers to take action.