A new poll in Britain reveals on Sunday that a clear majority of the British public supports building closer ties with the European Union and only a minority of citizens support distancing from the EU. The poll comes amid a growing loss of popularity for the Conservative government.
A large, comprehensive poll conducted for "Best for Britain" by the polling institute Focaldata yielded results that surprised many in the country, with even in strongholds of supporters of disengagement from the EU in the 2016 referendum, respondents expressed a desire to establish closer ties with the EU.
Migration is at a peak: Britain introduces floating housing for migrants // Photo: Reuters
According to the survey, 63 per cent of the British public believe Brexit has caused more problems than it did, compared to 21 per cent of the public who think it has solved more problems than it has caused them. In addition, 53 percent of respondents said they would like to establish closer relations with the EU, while 23 percent of respondents said they would like to keep closeness to the EU as it is. Only 14 percent said they wanted Britain to move away from the EU.
The most surprising results came from residents of Boston and Skegness, two cities where support for leaving the EU in the 2016 referendum was close to 75 percent, and whose support for moving closer to the EU now stands at 40 percent compared to 19 percent who want to distance themselves from it.
Illegal immigrants who came ashore in southern England,
The survey comes after official UK government figures were released last week showing that the migration rate rose to a new record of 606,000 new arrivals a year. That's a 24 percent increase within a year. The figures reflect a grim reality for those who argued that disengagement from the European Union would allow Britain to tighten its immigration policy and reduce the number of people entering its territory.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to meet on Tuesday on a joint visit to Moldova. Apart from expressing solidarity with Moldova's pro-Western government and Ukraine's war effort, the two leaders are expected to discuss immigration to Britain, much of which takes place from French territory. Pressure on Sunak to bring immigration to Britain down is mounting as his government's mandate draws to a close and elections are scheduled for elections at the latest in late January of next year.
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