It was nine long years ago in June 2016, when the British voting public voted by a slim maturity of 51.9% to 48.1% to leave the European Union. Since then, there has been a slow but sure drift away from support for leaving the European Union and another recent poll has confirmed this trend.

The poll by Yougov has a number of interesting results as we can see below:

Brexit: success or failure?

56% of those polled said that with hindsight, they believe that the decision to leave the EU was wrong.

This compares with only 31% who maintained that the decision was correct.

61% of those asked said that Brexit had been more a failure than a success, while a mere 13% said that it had indeed been a success, and 20% who said it had been neither a success or a failure.

The blame game

Of those who said that Brexit had been a failure 88% place the blame on the Conservative Party.

A similar number (84%) place the blame with former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Interestingly, a third of those surveyed said that the EU was to blame for Brexit’s shortcomings. Unsurprisingly this includes 60% of those who thought it leave who now think that Brexit has been a failure.

A closer relationship with Europe

Despite these differences, one of the most important aspects of the poll is that two-thirds of those surveyed want Britain to have a closer relationship with the European Union. Crucially, this is a stance, which is popular, not only among all parties, but also among Leave voters.

A referendum to rejoin?

Although it is clear that a majority of people in the country regret the fact that the UK left the European Union and also it is equally clear that a sizable majority want us to have closer ties again with the European Union, this does not at present necessarily translate into support for another referendum on whether we should rejoin the European Union.

The poll suggests that the British public are not convinced that we should hold another referendum on this issue in the near future.

In the longer term however, the situation is very different. Looking ahead 25 years, 52% of British people supported the idea of a referendum within that time frame, with exactly half that number, 26% being against it.

Comment

The survey suggests a number of consequences for both the government and campaigners, who support rejoining, as we go forward.

Firstly, it is absolutely clear that the government should have absolutely no fears about striving to re-establish a sensible, grown up and closer relationship with the EU, that will help to revive our economy after the disaster of the Tory years and may start to do undo some of the damage that Brexit has done.

Following this it is also clear that the government does not need to take heed of siren voices from the right-wing press or for that matter fear what a politician such as Nigel Farage might have to say about closer ties with the EU.

It is time for the government to be bolder on European reintegration, especially if it wants to win back voters who have drifted away to the Lib Dems and Greens in the last 12 months.

Secondly it is also clear from this poll that those campaigning for a return to the European Union should be aware that it is a long game and should be putting their resources and efforts into making sure that they can play such a game. It is unlikely that the British public would support a referendum in the next few years, but it seems that in the mid to late 2030s, a referendum to rejoin the EU it might be a distinct possibility.