Number of Britons who say Brexit was a mistake hits record highs, poll says

The proportion of Britons who say Brexit was a mistake hit a new record this month, a YouGov poll showed on Tuesday.

With few economic benefits as a result of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union, 57% of Britons said their decision to leave the bloc in 2016 was wrong, compared with 32% who thought the decision was right.

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More than half (55%) said they would vote to return to the EU, versus 31% who said they would prefer to stay out if a referendum were held today.

YouGov said the results marked a “moderate change” from January 2021, when 49% said they would vote to return to the EU and 37% would stay out.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in May that Brexit was bringing benefits, citing his main policy of freeports and value-added tax cuts that he said would make beer and sanitary products cheaper.

Economists say freeports — special zones containing tax and customs exemptions and simplified trade regulations — are unlikely to boost the British economy, but may be of limited value as a regional development tool.

British business investment has barely grown since mid-2016, in contrast to other advanced economies. While Brexit economists point to the fact that capital grew strongly in the years leading up to 2016 and was likely to slow down, business polls point to Brexit as one of the causes of the stagnation.

The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 Britons showed that 63% now consider Brexit more of a failure than a success, compared with 12% who consider it more of a success. Another 18% said that leaving the EU was neither one thing nor the other.