A majority of people who voted Labour in July last year have said they think things in the UK are heading in the wrong direction – with more than 3-in-5 of these voters who think this way pinning the blame on Brexit.

Ahead of Labour’s 2025 party conference, an exclusive YouGov poll of more than 4,000 people commissioned by Best for Britain has found that the electoral coalition that swept the party to power just fourteen months ago blames Brexit for where it’s all gone wrong.

The UK’s direction

Almost three quarters (72%) of the British public say that the UK is heading in the wrong direction, with fewer than one in ten (9%) saying it is heading in the right direction. This includes over half (56%) of people who voted Labour in 2024, sweeping Keir Starmer to power. Only one in five (21%) of voters who backed Labour at the last election say the UK is headed in the right direction.

When asked why the UK is heading in the wrong direction, people who voted Labour at the last election and thought the UK was heading in the wrong direction were most likely to say it is because of Brexit. Over three in five (61%) of these Labour voters picked Britain leaving the EU / the Brexit referendum as one of the five top reasons the UK is heading in the wrong direction – the most popular reason by a significant margin (13%).

The UK leaving the EU was also cited by two in five (40%) Conservative to Labour switchers who now think Britain is off track, and over a third (35%) of Labour voters now considering voting Reform UK who said the UK was going in the wrong direction. Almost half (48%) of Labour voters who think the UK is heading in the wrong direction blamed the rise of Reform UK, and also cited the privatisation of public services (38%).

By comparison, only a third (33%) of people who voted Labour in 2024 who now think Britain is off course said UK immigration policy was one of their five reasons why. One quarter (26%) of these Labour voters blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and austerity measures in the wake of the 2008 financial crash as one of their reasons for believing the same. One quarter (24%) picked Liz Truss’ mini budget as one of the reasons for the UK is heading in the wrong direction. Only 14% of Labour’s 2024 voters say one of the reasons the UK is headed in the wrong direction is because of Labour coming to power in 2024.

Public attitudes towards Brexit

Over three in five (62%) Brits say that Brexit has been more of a failure, compared to only one in ten (11%) who would say it has been more of a success. The British public are also more likely to say that Brexit has been neither a failure nor a success (19%), than they are to say it has been a success (11%).

An overwhelming number (over four in five, or 86%) of people who intend to vote Labour at the next election say that Brexit has been a failure. They are joined by around nine in ten Liberal Democrat (88%) and Green Party (90%) supporters. Crucially for the Government, this view is also shared by almost two thirds (64%) of people who switched their vote from the Conservatives to Labour at the last election, and those who voted Labour in 2024 and are now considering voting Reform UK.

Almost half of Conservative supporters (46%) and a third (33%) of Reform UK supporters say that Brexit has been more of a failure.

The question of whether Brexit has been a failure or a success splits Reform supporters three-ways almost perfectly, with one third saying it has been more of a failure (33% each), a further third (33%) saying it has been neither, and a final third (28%) saying it has been more of a success. Conservative supporters are most likely to say Brexit has been more of a failure (46%), followed by neither a success nor a failure (26%), with only 22% saying Brexit has been more of a success.

Views towards Brexit were captured best by our free-text survey, where each of the 4,368 respondents were asked to tell us which three words they would use to describe how Brexit makes them feel. Respondents were invited to type their answers into three separate text boxes, with results categorised through YouGov’s AI language model.

The results paint a bleak picture, with 24 of the categorised emotions being negative, one neutral and only eight being positive. The most popular emotions used to describe Brexit were anger and frustration (cited in 28% of all responses), followed by sadness (16%), and disappointment (15%). Feelings of betrayal and being lied to followed closely, cited in 10% of responses. The first positive emotion was happiness, but this was only cited in 9% of responses, followed by independence and freedom, cited in 7% of responses.

The reasons Brexit is seen as a failure

Asked why they think Brexit has been a failure, a clear majority (57%) of people who say Brexit has been a failure will pick the damage Brexit caused to the UK economy as one of the main reasons. The number rises to over two thirds (69%) among people who say they will vote Labour at the next election and think Brexit has been a failure. This view is shared by half (51%) of people who say they will vote Conservative at the next election and think Brexit has been a failure, and a majority (53%) of people who think Brexit has been failure and switched their vote from the Conservatives to Labour at the last election. Almost two in five (37%) of Reform UK supporters will say Brexit has been a failure because it damaged the UK economy.

Brexit not resulting in any opportunities, such as extra funding for the NHS, was the second most cited reason among those who thought Brexit had been a failure. Around half of Brits (49%) who thought Brexit had been a failure choose this option among their top five reasons. Over half of Liberal Democrat (52%), Labour (53%) and Green Party (58%) supporters who thought the same cited this reason, as did 37% of Conservative supporters, and around a third (32%) of Reform UK supporters who thought Brexit had been a failure.

People who switched their vote from the Conservatives to Labour at the last election were the most likely to select the damage Brexit has done to our trade with Europe as one of the top reasons Brexit has been a failure, with 54% choosing this option. They are joined by half (50%) of people who say they intend to vote Conservative at the next election, and around a third (32%) of Reform UK supporters, who thought Brexit had been a failure.

Over two in five Reform UK supporters cited Brexit having made it more difficult to tackle illegal immigration (45%), and increased immigration in general (41%), among the top reasons Brexit has been a failure for the UK.

Who the public blames

Among those who think Brexit has been a failure, four in five (80%) point the finger at Boris Johnson and around three quarters (74%) blame David Cameron.

Over two thirds (69%) of people who think Brexit has been a failure identify Nigel Farage as being responsible – more than double any other current party leader. Nigel Farage is blamed for Brexit having been a failure by over two thirds (68%) of Conservative voters who switched their vote to Labour in 2024 and think Brexit has been a failure. Over a third (35%) of people who think Brexit has been a failure and who currently support Reform UK, think that Nigel Farage is responsible for Brexit being a failure. 

The poll

Commissioned by Best for Britain: all figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 4,368 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 5th – 10th September 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

Data tables are published by YouGov.