A majority of Britons are for the first time regretting the outcome of the 23 June 2016 referendum in favor of an EU exit, according to a YouGov poll published in The Times on Thursday. In response to the question "Looking back, do you think that the UK was right or wrong to vote to leave the EU?", 45% of the respondents say they regret the choice of Brexit, 43% approving it and 12% being undecided, indicated the survey carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday with 1,590 adults.
"This is the first time that there has been a majority of people who say that the referendum has resulted in the wrong outcome," the Times said.
Specifically, the poll indicates that 85% of those who voted to leave the European Union are still satisfied with their choice, while 89% of pro-EU voters still think that the referendum should have resulted in a different result.
As for the economic consequences, 39% of respondents believe that the UK outside the EU will be in a "worse" situation than when it was within the union, with 28% believing that the country's finances will improve.
Moreover, 36% of the British also think that their country will have less influence in the world after the Brexit (as opposed to 19% thinking that it will have more influence). In the referendum on 23 June, almost 52% of the British voted to leave the European Union.
Nine months after the referendum, Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on March 29, the starting point of two years of negotiations between London and the EU to conclude an exit agreement.
Nearly a year after the referendum, the Brexit is still the epicenter of political life in the United Kingdom and will be one of the main topics of the election campaign for the early legislative elections of 8 June.
The election, which should have taken place in 2020, was convened by Theresa May, who hopes to emerge with reinforced support in order to negotiate the exit from the EU as she sees fit.
The Brussels Times
