Findings will bolster those in No 10 who want to negotiate on re-entry but some senior figures remain wary
Andy Burnham’s personal preference to rejoin the European Union after the next election is supported by almost half of all voters, a new megapoll has found, although cabinet ministers concerned about reopening Brexit divides are privately urging him to proceed with caution.
The poll by the Messina Group (TMG) found that renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the EU could boost Labour’s vote share by as much as seven points, if the prime minister offered a fresh referendum in which he campaigned to re-enter the bloc.
Almost 1/3 of voters said an in-out referendum would be needed first, while more than one in six felt that a general election mandate would be sufficient, and the same proportion thought parliament could make the decision.
The overall findings will bolster the case of those inside Downing Street who want to promise at the next election that Labour would at least negotiate over re-entry, which the prime minister has said he wants to see “in his lifetime”.
Even the majority supporting it quickly goes away though if you tell them that they wouldn’t join with their previously privileged status
Edit: Spelling
Yup. The survey should have a few simple questions:
If they answer no to either of those, then they’re not really wanting to be part of the EU. They just miss the benefits from the sweetheart deal.
Yeah, I really don’t think that The Guardian is doing Labour any favors by running articles of this sort without covering that important tidbit.
If it were off trying to convince people that the UK should rejoin, whether-or-not previous opt-outs were granted, that’d be a different story; then there’s a serious, pro-EU policy end goal. If the UK is going to do a Rejoin at some point, then I expect that that’s probably the public opinion bar that’s going to need to be met. Probably not a bar that’s going to be met overnight, so might as well start on it now.