55% would vote to rejoin the EU and two thirds think Brexit was a mistake, poll shows

The majority of Britons would vote to rejoin the European Union in a major shift in opinion against Brexit seven years after the referendum vote, new polling shows.

A survey of adults by YouGov shows that 51 per cent of people would vote to re-enter the EU, the highest the pollster has recorded since the 2016 referendum.

Asked how they would vote if a second referendum were to be held now, in 2023, the number of those opting for “rejoin” rises to 55 per cent, while just 31 per cent said they would vote Leave.

The figure rises substantially when the number of “don’t knows” is removed, showing 61 per cent in favour rejoining the bloc, as opposed to just 39 per cent against.

The pollster said that the rise in calls for the UK to reverse the Brexit decision among 18 to 24-year-olds, who were too young to vote in the initial referendum, could lead to demands for the issue of Brexit to be revisited in the future.

The survey is just the latest in a rising trend among the electorate showing “Bregret” as the economic picture worsens and British holidaymakers face lengthy queues at the border each summer.

Since 2021 there has been a substantial shift against the decision to leave the EU, with 40 per cent saying they would leave back then as opposed to 42 per cent saying they would go back in.

Even among Leavers there has been a sharp increase in people saying they made the wrong decision, with 18 per cent expressing regret at their decision to vote Leave, as opposed to just 8 per cent in 2021.

Back in May, polling by BMG for i showed 49 per cent would rejoin the EU, as opposed to 36 per cent saying they would remain outside. It followed a separate poll in April by Redfield and Wilton that showed 56 per cent in favour of rejoining the trading bloc, compared to 37 per cent against.

Overall, 57 per cent of Britons say that the country was wrong to vote for Brexit in 2016, while 63 per cent said they were more likely to see the decision to leave the EU as a failure, rather than a success.

Beth Kühnel Mann, Political Researcher at YouGov said there has been a “clear trend” since 2021 of Brits “turning on Brexit”, as she pointed out that 70 per cent of the public believed the Government had handled the UK’s exit “badly”.

“Now it seems that this is translating into how people would vote in a hypothetical referendum to rejoin the Union,” she said.

“The 51 per cent of the public who say they would vote to rejoin is the highest we have recorded since the 2016 vote.

“And, with this figure rising to 62 per cent among 18-24-year-olds – who were unable to vote in the referendum – it may be that calls to revisit the issue grow stronger in the coming years.”