Poll: More Britons favour leaving EU than want to stay

  • Politics
ITV's Tonight programme polled 2,000 Britons on their sentiments toward the EU. Credit: Tonight/ITV

More Brits would opt to leave the European Union than would choose to stay in it if there was a referendum today, a new ITV poll has found.

A survey of 2,000 adults for Europe - the People's Poll:Tonight Progamme found that 42% would vote for Britain to break its ties with the union, while 31% would opt to stay in.

Just over a quarter (26%) remained undecided, according to the poll.

The OnePoll survey of 2,000 people also indicated hat 41% felt Britain would be better off outside the union, while 34% thought the country would be worse off. 24% remained uncertain.

Professor John Curtice of the British Polling Council said the results indicated that, while those favouring a departure from Europe held a slight lead, the number of undecided voters meant any referendum would see the result up for grabs.

The other results included:

  • 71% think the EU has been bad for the UK, with 29% disagreeing

  • 60% believe immigration into Britain from Europe should be capped, 23% think it should be banned altogether and 17% think it should remain the same

  • 55% of those surveyed think the UK could do well outside the EU, with 17% disagreeing. 28% did not know.

Europe - the People's Poll: Tonight Progamme airs on ITV at 8pm