Poll shows more Britons support leaving the EU, but PM Cameron looks still undecided and concerned about what he has floated.
An estimated 40 percent of British people want to leave the European Union, according to a recently released survey, local media reported.
In the wake of Prime Minister David Cameron’s high profile speech on giving voters a say on severing ties with Brussels, research showed 40 percent of people now back an exit while 37 percent want to stay in, British media reported.
The survey of 2,000 people, conducted by YouGov on last Sunday and Monday, reconfirmed a long-established trend of the British preference to leave the EU, after an earlier poll had seemed to indicate a shift.
Another YouGov poll conducted on January 17-18 found that 40 per cent of 2,000 people asked wanted Britain to remain in the EU, beating the number who would rather leave – 34 per cent – for the first time in at least two years.
Cameron has insisted he wants Britain to remain within the EU but only after negotiating a fresh settlement, clawing back powers from Brussels.
The Conservatives are to start drawing up legislation now to hold a referendum, which would be staged after the next election but before 2017.
According to the Populus/Times poll, Cameron’s long-awaited speech has done little to help his prospects of securing a Conservative majority at the 2015 election.
Three quarters of supporters of the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party said they were unmoved by the speech, and 17 percent said they were less likely to back the Tories in future. Just 8 percent of UKIP supporters said they were no more minded to back Cameron.
MOL/HE
