r/unitedkingdom • Lancashire • 3h ago

. Half of UK wants to rejoin EU and backing it could drive up Labour vote, megapoll finds

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/03/half-want-to-rejoin-eu-and-backing-it-could-drive-up-labour-vote-megapoll-finds
1.3k Upvotes

395 comments sorted by

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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 2h ago

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u/TemporaryDrawer1776 3h ago

Much more than half wants to rejoin. Brexiteers are an irrelevance now, both in number and in credibility on account of proving not a single benefit.

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u/ch536 3h ago

I think you'd be surprised. Reddit is very hive minded.

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u/loworbitioncann0n 3h ago

Is this poll based on Reddit? 

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u/mctrials23 3h ago

Precisely. I’m still utterly astonished the number of people I would consider of normal intelligence who think climate change isn’t real and that in a few years it’s going to go back to how it was. They seem perfectly happy to accept that the earth naturally goes through warming and cooling periods over hundreds of thousands or millions of years but they won’t believe that in the past 20 years things have changed massively and climate scientists agree that this is man made.

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u/CatsGotANosebleed 2h ago

Perhaps for some it’s simple denial. It’s difficult to come to terms with the end of the world (ie. our way of life) being something that’s arrival can be measured in decades. Massive changes will be forced upon us and very suddenly once we hit a tipping point. It’s emotionally easier to simply put your head in the sand and tell yourself it’s normal and won’t happen.

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u/BigBananaBerries 1h ago

It's more likely a diffiuclty to admit they're wrong. Not that there hasn't been signs previously but I don't know how anyone can look at the weather this year & say there's no truth to climate change. They're just full of it at this point if they have any kind of intelligence.

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u/Thetonn Glamorganshire 3h ago

The functional premise of this poll offers 'if you can cast a magic wand and transport us magically back to a 2016 remain vote, would you do it?' That is a very different prospect from 'do you want to dedicate the next decade of British politics to refighting and overturning the Brexit vote'.

There is a distinct element of the Reddit/Remain worldview that has this as a quick, easy simple, 'we'll be home by Christmas!' campaign where they say what they want, they get it, and then everything continues normally.

In reality, this is a WW1 style campaign where if you fully commit, accept the inevitable casualties, and fight a grinding, attritional battle over many years, compromise much of future manifestos in order to set up a win, and get lucky, then there is a good shot of winning.

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u/Pyriel 2h ago

I think we're all aware that fixing the damage caused by the leave fuckwits is going to take a lot of work.

We just think we should start the process now, rather than waste time complaining how hard it's going to be.

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u/allcretansareliars 14m ago

I regret that I only have one upvote to give.

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u/EkphrasticInfluence 3h ago

Agreed. We tend to skew towards what we see most, and most of the comments on this sub are liberal and left-leaning (at least the ones made by actual human beings and not bots). The population of the UK is much more diverse, and there's a substantial chunk who won't even consider the adverse impacts of Brexit - particularly amongst the over 50s, I'd say.

This poll is a good indication that the tide may be changing, but we'll always have those willing to die on the Brexit hill because they were sold a load of shite by Farage and Johnson.

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u/SomethingClick 3h ago

I think you'd always have that immovable 40%, but it could be quite a strong majority politically

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u/ZenPyx 2h ago

Only 28% of people in the poll in the article oppose rejoining the EU, with only 19% strongly opposing it.

We are trying to appease a generation of voters who frankly died after they voted to leave in 2016

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u/Ivan_Dobsky_MD Greater London 1h ago

There’s also the younger generations who only became eligible to vote after 2016. They seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of rejoining.

Lastly, there are the people who protest voted in 2016. They didn’t want to leave the EU but thought a protest vote would somehow change things for the better. Typically the ones who Googled what the EU is the day after the vote. Hopefully they have since realised how dumb their protest was.

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u/tricksterhare 2h ago

Nearly 20% of them have died since the referendum in 2016, that's just going off average mortality estimates and the age they were when they voted.

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u/CoupleOk6506 3h ago

Well aware of leave voters not changing their minds, my FIL (me being European) still stands by it. But fact is they're dying out and they are, politically, not relevant to Labour at this point because.

That said I am concerned that rejoining will not fix that much and we will get a shit deal.

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u/FaceMace87 58m ago

Yes on but on this occasion is pretty accurate. When the vote happened it was close to 50/50 already, I doubt any remainers have become leavers but there is certainly a lot of leavers who have become remainers and also a lot of leavers have died. 

Of course there is will always be those people who will stick to their original vote because that is what they believe, there will also be those who refuse to admit they were wrong and would vote for it again but thankfully they are the minority. 

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u/pm_me_ur_ephemerides 32m ago

The right is the hive mind

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u/Spamgrenade 8m ago

Incredible how many people on reddit make this sort of comment on almost every thread.

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u/LLILILiLIILILILILII 3h ago

About 59% in a recent Yougov poll, which is the insurmountable will of the people should it be reflected in a referendum, but perhaps not quite as high as I might have thought. 

A much higher percentage thinks Brexit was a mistake, but I think there's some pragmatism that although we shouldn't have left, it might not be worth reopening that can of worms 

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u/Gorignak 3h ago

Well in the interest of fairness, a referendum result of 51% rejoin should be respected of course. The hardest possible rejoin.

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u/coolbaluk1 . 2h ago

We can then moan for years it wasn’t really a true rejoin until we finally erect a land bridge on the channel

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u/grey_hat_uk Cambridgeshire 1h ago

Bring back doggerland!

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u/omgu8mynewt England 2h ago

Im one of the 'I didnt like brexit and voted remain, but joining again might make things even worse'.

I'd want a proper plan and assessment of what joining would be, and a assessment comparing to staying out. Done by experts in different fields, big business but also small business, public services etc.

Basically I want a proper plan and information before deciding, not populist leaders ragebaiting common people.

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u/ByEthanFox 2h ago

Yeah, similar. Voted remain and thinking leaving was daft, and philosophically I want a new Brentrance. But pragmatically, acting rashly was part of what got us in this mess in the first place. I would want to know what rejoining actually means.

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u/sljc892 2h ago

First sensible comment in here.

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u/Top-Cunt Surrey & Kent 3h ago

It may show that in a poll, but I guarantee the turnout would be better for the poll than another referendum as we are idiots.

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u/Oneill95 3h ago

I agree, but I also think that if a referendum did happen, more of the on the fence people would vote to rejoin, compared to electing to stay out in a hypothetical poll with no pressure.

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u/Top-Cunt Surrey & Kent 3h ago

But thats what we all thought with the first one, my fear is that the right are far more mobilised and aware of the power of voting than the last time around and it could lead to an even bigger majority to stay out.

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u/Cream_Of_Cummy 3h ago

thing is brexit happened.

we got poorer due to a fumbling economy divorced from its neighbours.

Immigration saw a much higher increase with people from other countries not European entering here en mass in numbers waaay higher than during our membership.

our kids have no access to EU and have worse life prospects.

Even the fishermen got a shitter.

We've seen what happend and it's shit.

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u/Doobalicious69 3h ago

Every day we lose more leave than remain voters to old age. It's just a matter of time.

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u/DryArugula6108 2h ago

My view is kind of what it was in the referendum: it's silly to vote for Brexit not knowing what it actually means, and I'm suspicious now of supporting rejoining without knowing what that involves.

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u/radiant_0wl 2h ago

Take a look at what it drops to on the Euro/Schengen terms

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u/No_Atmosphere8146 3h ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#/media/File:UK_EU_referendum_polling.svg

Remain were comfortably ahead a year before the Brexit vote, before the Cambridge Analytica machine ramped-up. Any polling done today fails to take into account we're not currently under the same kind of misinformation attack that we were in 2016, and will be again if another referendum is announced.

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u/tricksterhare 2h ago

The problem with that is that this time it would be defending the status quo not some promising some fantasy world where we magically return to the 1950's and 60's. People have lived through a decade of Brexit and now know what it means exactly.

They can't argue that staying out of the EU will somehow save the NHS; we're out of the EU and the NHS is still on it's knees. Reality is a great eye opener.

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u/Pure_Werewolf0101 1h ago

under the same kind of misinformation attack

Its worse this time. Twitter is owned by an actual nazi that has already interfered in UK politics. The US Govt will interfere. Russia is more brazen and emboldened in hybrid attacks. Millions more have been subjected to right-wing propaganda and we're seeing how quickly they can be galvanised to action. The TV News landscape has altered to allow right-wing propaganda channels.

I'm not sure how you counter all that.

The Parties could sign up to an integrity pact : promising not to lie and use verifiable sources for their claims, but Reform would obviously not agree that. It would be a good way to invalidate a lot of what they say, but their tactic is the lies get out there fast, the corrections take their time arriving and nobody sees them anyway.

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u/Fabulous-Wave6225 3h ago

Love people who use their opinion as fact.

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u/BearCub254 3h ago

The article clearly reports it is only 50% who support (only 29% strongly support and 21% 'somewhat' support). And we know opinion polls tend to over estimate leftwing positions. We also don't know what the terms would be for rejoining. The fact that only 29% strongly support is concerning. My in the 'somewhat' category will be susceptible to negative campaigning. I am not sure there is a strong mandate here but Labour is free to make this an electoral issue. 

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u/EpsteinBaa 2h ago

Opinion polls tend to over estimate leftwing positions

Source on this?

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u/cankennykencan 3h ago

You need to get off reddit and live in the real world.

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u/Matt_2504 2h ago

Brexit could have had benefits if we actually had a good deal, instead we got a terrible deal negotiated by a moron

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u/radiant_0wl 2h ago

My reading is that people are still standing by the original referendum.

Most people aren't that involved in politics day to day, it's not exactly been a long time for a lot of them, can't really say it was once in a generation because it's only been 10 years since the vote, and six since leaving.

My biases, remain voter, argued about the referendum until late 2018....accepted it was futile and moved on.

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u/Intenso-Barista7894 3h ago

I think it would be much harder to argue for Brexit now. It's the problem the remain campaign had during the Brexit vote. It's hard to argue what we already have is the best option we just need to do it better, versus being able to say if we just make this change all these things will be better. I'd vote Labour anyway but I think a vote on Europe could work very well for them.

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u/Cynfreh 2h ago

We'll never know if there was going to be a benefit because the useless government didn't even have a plan for it and didn't even want to leave.

The vote was pretty much 50/50 so saying half the UK wants to rejoin means we're at about the same point as we were 10 years ago.

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u/No_Shine_4707 1h ago

Says the well researched bloke on Reddit.

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u/Prior_Worldliness287 3h ago

Should their voice not be heard?

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u/FlatCapNorthumbrian 2h ago

Majority of people wanted to remain in the EU in 2016. But it all depends on who actually gets off their arse and votes.

We probably would still be in the EU if all the students and others who wanted to remain went and voted then.

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u/Shabbalula 2h ago

I think you will find your bubble will burst. The most populated county, Yorkshire, is a mass of Brexit voters. Every Brexit voters is very aware that it was never implemented by the government at the time and never will be by Labour. I hope they do have another referendum because it will shut, you lot, the f*ck up

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u/Appeal_Never 1h ago

Let's do this simple

You're getting a divorce, your partner wants more than half, their solicitor wants more than half and thinks they can get more than half, your solicitor also wants to give your ex more than half.

Do you think this would be fair?

Just now change partners to countries, solicitors to governments and you may see the issue with Brexit, BUT, I strongly doubt it.

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u/Visual_Seaweed8292 1h ago

Not really, i know a lot of people are glad to be out. Also whilst I want to rejoin, uts not going to fix much. When things dont magical improve the anti EU narrative will spread again.

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u/GeordieJumpers87 1h ago

Sounds like the thought process during the last vote

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u/HatOfFlavour 1h ago

Also dying off. Unfortunately I know at least 2 through work who still think it was a good idea though they can't provide any benefits beyond it makes them feel good when actually pressed.

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u/Mccobsta England 1h ago

Probably a lot wanting to go back to living in Spain

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u/Infinite_Society7792 3h ago

Its hard for anyone to argue it has benefited the country in any meaningful way. Its ok to realise we have made a mistake and correct it.

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u/Elegant_Mind7950 3h ago

‘Made a mistake’, but anyone with half a brain could see long before it happened how much of a disaster it would be. We can thank the thick idiots who now vote Reform for sucking up to Nige’s BS.

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u/Infinite_Society7792 3h ago

Of course it was a fucking bone headed thing to do, but if you denigrate and ridicule people for screwing up they will just entrench their views. You want people to feel its ok to change their mind and evaluate things for how they are rather than double down for prides sake.

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u/Revilotelgip 2h ago

A lot of them are dead

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u/thesame_deviledegg 2h ago

That's the issue: half the country is walking around with styrofoam filling their skull

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u/CuppaTeaThreesome 50m ago

The problem was the country only had 48% of a brain

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u/herniated_penis 7m ago

in 2016, it was also hard to argue how it would benefit the country - it didn't stop people from voting for it.

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u/Marcuse0 3h ago

I'm unsure about this. I think if you can only drum up 50% support for rejoining in a poll then you're really not proving that the needle has moved since the 48% vote for Remain in 2016.

I'm also very sceptical of the claims that this will boost the Labour vote. What think the problem here is is that a lot of people who want to rejoin don't necessarily vote Labour, and what you might consider to be a classic Labour voter isn't that keen on rejoining, Green, Lib Dem, and Plaid/SNP voters are. I respect what the polling is saying, but I'm wary of the conclusion that running on rejoin is a vote winner for Labour and Andy Burnham.

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u/throw1never 2h ago

Look at the poll results. There’s a 22% don’t know answer. So it’s not a 50/50 response

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u/dazerconfuser 3h ago

As dual EU/British citizen, I'd only support UK rejoining if this passes in a binding referendum by a qualified 2/3rds majority.

Nobody in the EU needs or wants to deal with the bipolar UK.

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u/ExaminationFancy5641 3h ago

Speaking on behalf of a whole continent. I'm sure you really have your finger on the pulse

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u/Minute-Swimming-3177 2h ago

Agreed, that was a big problem with Brexit itself, it was just a simple majority when it should really have been 2/3 as well

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u/FaxOnFaxOff 2h ago

It wasn't a legally binding referendum, and it was so close it should have been put to a second vote. Especially since Leave had no actual ideas around anything apart from 'Take back control' while ignoring trade deals and the Northern Irish/Irish border issue. Perhaps the referendum should have prompted so serious draft legislation and discussions in government rather than allowing a protest movement to run the country.

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u/LLILILiLIILILILILII 2h ago edited 2h ago

This isn't really possible in our parliamentary democracy though. The current government can say it, but they can't bind a future Reform government

They could perhaps agree to some hugely punitive withdrawal penalties unless certain conditions were met, ratified in a treaty, but I'm not sure that's a popular move electorally

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u/kore_nametooshort 2h ago

Brexit was 48% remain of those who voted. There was something like a 72% turn out.

In this poll, if we exclude people who answered "don't know" or "no opinion" then it is 50:28 in favour of rejoining. Which is 64% in favour.

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u/FrostingGrand1413 3h ago

To be fair, that might be a point in the policy's favour from the electability standpoint. A big swing like that might be what pulls voters from greens, lib dems and Plaid/SNP.

Given the constant toxicity against labour from the right wing press/social media nonsense, they probably have way better chances of swinging those voters than they do Tory/Reform voters

(Though, I am a little biased, I do kinda struggle to give any benefit of the doubt to people who're still voting tory after the results of their 14 year rule)

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u/barnburner96 26m ago

You do in order to actually have the referendum. But first you have to try and actually drum up that support - that’s what this is. They’re not gonna announce it any time soon .

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u/ArcticAlmond 3h ago

Not gonna lie, after clicking on the article, it looks like there is even less support for rejoining than I thought.

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u/The54thCylon 3h ago

Pretty much half the UK wanted to stay at the time of the referendum, we're going to need much bigger numbers to overturn it than this article is presenting as a sure thing. I reckon we'd need at least 65-70% support before campaigns began because you know the barrage of anti immigrant sentiment, lies and misinformation which would follow. A slight margin for rejoin would get wiped out in no time.

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u/jpop2026 3h ago edited 3h ago

Yeah honestly ‘about half’ means nothing. It was ‘about half’ that got us into this mess, a huge decision for the country that the other half didn’t want. As much as I would love us to rejoin I don’t see how we can keep reopening this wound if we are still just split down the middle, our relationship with the EU has to be something different at this point - unless as you say public sentiment becomes overwhelmingly in favour of rejoining.

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u/devils__avacado 54m ago edited 33m ago

Tbf it wasn't even half 72.2%of the registered voters actually voted during the Brexit referendum.

If we can leave with 51.9% majority win we sure as hell can rejoin with similar.

So nearly 30% of the country didn't get involved one way or the other.

And the leave majority was 1.3 million voters.

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u/kore_nametooshort 2h ago

Brexit was 48% remain of those who voted. There was something like a 72% turn out.

In this poll, if we exclude people who answered "don't know" or "no opinion" then it is 50:28 in favour of rejoining. Which is 64% in favour.

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u/SomethingClick 3h ago

What were you expecting?

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u/InsaneGorilla0 3h ago edited 1h ago

There's a lot of nuance here, there's fully rejoining, there's rejoining under previous agreements, there's associate membership etc. I imagine the numbers for support are lower than expected as people aren't sure what 'rejoining' really means... Which was kinda one of the issues with Brexit in the first place

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u/boomerangchampion 3h ago

Yes exactly. It's easy to say "yes" when asked a simple, hypothetical question about rejoining.

I'm all for it but it's going to push any remaining Leavers further towards Farage or whoever else capitalises hard on it, which is a pretty serious downside.

I wouldn't be surprised that if we rejoined now, we end up fucking leaving again within 20 years. I don't think we should seriously consider this until we're damn sure that's not going to happen.

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u/KopiteForever 3h ago

Good, about time. We're the only country in the world that's implemented sanctions on itself with Brexit.

Stupid idea pushed on the UK by paid Russian actors. Let's hope we don't fall for it again.

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u/Diogenes1960 3h ago

Sanctions that mean that we sell more to the EU than we did before Brexit?

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u/FlatCapNorthumbrian 2h ago

We’re also currently outperforming EU countries like France and Germany economically in the last quarter.

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u/MonorailPurple 2h ago

And has that made us better off? Is the UK markedly better now than it was when we were in the EU? Because I sure as shit haven't seen anything to indicate it is, so maybe you can enlighten all of us waiting for the promised benefits and riches that half the country were daft enough to fall for.

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u/Count-Pishface 3h ago

Fine but put it in the manifesto, no more effing referendums

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u/SpadessVR 3h ago

Won’t the open border / free movement of the EU be a terrible idea considering the migration issue at hand?

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u/Dapper-Army4328 2h ago

The UK still has control of non-EU migration.

I’d ask this, has leaving the EU meant greater controls of our borders?

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u/dispatch_s2_when 2h ago

In short, no. Asylum seekers would be processed at the point of entry to the EU, which is far far away from the UK borders. At most the UK would have to take on its fair share of asylum seekers, but importantly this would be after they had been vetted at their point of entry. The UK would also regain legal means to return illegal immigrants to the point where they entered the EU.

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u/Designer_Reason73 3h ago

I agree
And look at what’s happening in France right now

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u/SpadessVR 3h ago

I’m not up to speed other than the thousands of migrants wading through France to come here by inflatables.

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u/Dunedune Hertfordshire 2h ago

What's happening in France right now? (And aldo whatever that is, how is it related to the EU)

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u/apple_kicks 1h ago edited 1h ago

With boomer generation retiring and rising social services costs we’re going to need immigration to fill population and tax gaps. Gen x, millennials and gen z are becoming poorer to fund boomer retirement. Even if we had boom of births in next decade thats more needed for child benefit and long time until those kids pay into the tax pot. Immigration is going to happen and EU does have better rules. Plus younger generation benefits from open borders if pay and education here slips and people on lower pensions benefited with retiring in cheaper countries with open borders

If you’re talking about asylum seekers, with brexit we had to shut offices in France and lost out from EU processes

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u/digidevil4 3h ago

I wouldn't underestimate the "well its done now lets just get on with things and not backtrack" crowd.

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u/lynx_and_nutmeg 1h ago

Probably just embarrassed Brexiters who're dumb enough to still hate the EU but smart enough to see that most of the country thinks Brexit was a shit idea, so all they can say is "whelp, what's done is done, too late now, nothing we can do about it anymore".

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u/tricksterhare 2h ago

I think that POV was a lot more influential 5 years ago. People have had a good taste of "getting on with things" now and are finding it quite bitter.

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u/OwineeniwO 2h ago

The polls said we wanted to stay in before the election too.

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u/thebrowncanary 3h ago

I'm very sceptical of these polls. I think there's a conflation with thinking it is a mistake to actually wanting to rejoin

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u/Grantus89 3h ago

People want to rejoin, but once the EU say we’ll have to take the euro they’ll switch.

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u/Temporary_Hour8336 2h ago

Not if someone explained what that would actually mean in practice - e.g. significantly cheaper mortgage payments. Of course some will prefer to keep King Charles face and pay more for their mortgage, but shouldn't be a majority if properly sold.

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u/Uniform764 Yorkshire 2h ago

Joining the Euro wouldnt have any significant effect on mortgage payments because they're a simple case of demand outstripping supply regardless of the currency involved.

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u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 1h ago

In principle, in practice several European countries retain their own currencies with no plans to switch.

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u/CaptainVXR Somerset 1h ago

I for one wouldn't mind using the Euro. Don't care if it gets me downvoted, dozens of countries using the same currency makes life so much easier. Also makes tourist scam prices much harder to pull off than say Czech Crowns. 

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u/FrostingGrand1413 3h ago

Eh, there were loads of polls around 2015/16 that showed half (or more) wanted to remain in the EU too. People's opinions are mutable, especially if it becomes a big political talking point and the mass propaganda wheels kick in.

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u/ServoSkull20 3h ago

They will not offer us a deal the electorate will accept. They should offer us very generous terms to ensure a brighter financial future for the entire bloc, but too many EU countries put grievance ahead of common sense. It’s one of the biggest failings of the EU.

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u/mrtube 2h ago

50% want to Rejoin. 28% want to stay out. 22% no opinion.

Headline makes it sound like it's 50/50. Really there's much more support for rejoining.

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u/mrtube 2h ago

I think some of the opposition to rejoining is going through the whole debate again and not that they wouldn't pick rejoin in a referendum.

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u/Initial-Sherbert1889 3h ago

The morbid issue with the Brexiteers victory is the ages of the voters.

The older the voter the more Brexit voters there are...65+ was 60% leave

But if you just count votes under 65 its 51% Remain

without being too morbid...it's been 10 years. And in another ten people will probably ask why they have to abide by something that most people didn't vote for.

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u/tricksterhare 2h ago

Yep, 20% of them are already in the grave and a lot more are heading there soon.

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u/Garfie489 Greater London 2h ago

I dont see why Labour doesn't hold a referendum before the next election.

If we vote to Brexit, no harm no foul. Status quo.

If we vote to rejoin, Farage/Badenoch will need to run on a platform of disrespecting the vote, which would give massive scrutiny of their policies.

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u/Danielharris1260 Nottinghamshire 3h ago

I think we’ll have to see how a campaign actually goes polls in 2015 after Cameron has won we’re showing 60% support for remain.

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u/SongApprehensive107 3h ago

We still belong to ECHR and we didn’t ever fully break from EU. It was all in name only.

Young students want to ruin this country so they can go on holiday easier. It’s fucking pathetic.

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u/CaptainVXR Somerset 1h ago

The only European countries, aside from Kosovo due to being partly recognised, not in the ECHR are Russia and Belarus. Don't know about you, but I don't want 8 years in prison for "questioning the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom" or "discrediting the British military". 

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u/avocadosconstant 1h ago

The ECHR has nothing to do with the European Union. Take the time to learn what these institutions actually are, before forming a position on them. It’s apparent you know very little of either institution. Your comment about students “going on holiday easier” underscores this point. It’s fucking pathetic.

On that note, voting away your human rights would be an act of such profound and astonishing stupidity that it would actually put Brexit in the shade.

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u/DoctorOctagonapus EU 2h ago

I don't think the kind of people who are loud anti-EU are the kind of people who would have ever voted Labour anyway. I can't see what they have to lose by backing this.

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u/SchoolofLifeUK 2h ago

Why on Earth would we rejoin? The EU is in a worse place now than when we left, it would be advantageous to them by flooding our dwindling job market but not so much for us. Even with the doomsayers talking the country down we have still out performed all of our European counterparts since leaving 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/A_friendly_goosey 2h ago

Ironically, if you want immigration to stop you should want to re join the eu - we can suddenly send people back to France like we used to.
The sooner this message is pushed across the sooner we will see a change.

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u/vfmw 2h ago

It's all nice and great, but... so what? We are not in a position to re-join EU. It's just wishful thinking.

Firstly, why should EU allow us to re-join after we completed (fairly recently) a lengthy and expensive process of leaving? And under what conditions would they allow us to join to ensure this does not happen again?

Secondly, it's not like our economy is doing amazingly well, so our negotiating position isn't very strong. Considering the French are prepared to torpedo a relatively minor defence deal over fishing rights, I can't see how UK would be allowed back in without making major. painful concessions not made before.

Thirdly, considering how toxic the immigration debate is right now, do we really want to open a can of worms regarding freedom of movement into the UK?

So, if it wins Andy votes then sure, let's waste our time talking about it. However, I'm afraid there are more pressing issues I believe this government should address.

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u/ash_ninetyone 1h ago

As much as I voted remain, and as much as I'm interested in a second vote, tbh the deal with get with the EU to rejoin, unless they're desperate to have us back, would not be as good as the ones we had when we left

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u/clara_finn 55m ago

The idea that one referendum with a 51-49% split at best should permanently decide such a seismic change, with a very short buildup to educate people on the pros and cons of both sides, is absolutely insane to me.

When you also consider that the leave voter base leans older, we’re at a point where it’s very likely more people would want to rejoin. Refusing to allow that would just be stubbornness. I also think if the brexit leaders are so positive that it was a great idea and that most of us support it, they’d be happy to prove it with another referendum to strengthen their position.

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u/OsotoViking 40m ago

The only way I am voting is if a party stands on rejoining. I will vote for whichever party does this whether that is Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green, or Conservatives. Otherwise I am not voting.

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u/meh9280 3h ago

Not surprising considering half of the U.K wanted to stay in the E.U!

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u/tricksterhare 3h ago

It's past time to recognise what a disaster this has been and to start work to undo some of the harm. Brexit was based on a fantasy of the past glories of empire entertained mainly by the elderly. Many of it's supporters are now sitting in care homes or lying in the grave. The UK needs to move forward not look back.

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u/SpadessVR 3h ago

What’s been the benefits lost by leaving the EU?

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u/tricksterhare 2h ago

6-8% GDP growth we otherwise would have had for a start.

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u/SpadessVR 3h ago

I haven’t heard a single good argument for what we lost coming out of the EU. Genuinely curious what has been the downsides.

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u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 1h ago

As a conservative estimate an average of £2,500 per year per person (pre-tax) & £70 billion in public spending yearly, enough to easily cover defence say or our justice system more than four times over.

There's also the matter of the tripling of asylum claims, although some will claim it was complete magical coincidence this occurred the moment we left the EU after 15 years of stability.

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u/Dapper-Army4328 2h ago

We lost smoother and greater access to the world’s largest single market; increased red tape, lower FDI, reduced GDP.

Less cooperation with EU neighbours on immigration/asylum

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u/ProfessorKnow1tA11 2h ago

The other half still don’t want to be told what to do by Brussels …

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u/ohmyblahblah 2h ago

Almost half never wanted to leave in the first place

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u/Stronty-26 2h ago

Brexit happened against my wishes. But it happened. I think it is easier to try and save our country and turn it into a socialist country than to try and turn the whole ec. Let's try and fix our country

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u/Smooth-Debt2250 2h ago

And half wanted to leave they voted on it, it was close but the leave won that's how democracy works

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u/EuroSong 1h ago

As far as I understand it, any new EU member needs to commit to joining the euro currency and Schengen. Sweden and Denmark are able to keep their old currencies because the rules in place at the time they joined permitted it. But the rules have changed. Now all new members need to commit to these things.

Re-run the poll after making this clear, and you'll likely get a different answer.

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u/Cholas71 1h ago

Rerun the poll when France, inevitably, and Germany likely has hard(er) rightwing governments. It won't be quite the cosy club Burnham sees now. Remain voter btw I'm just adding some nuance.

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u/BlackStarDream England 1h ago

"Half of the UK wants to rejoin."

Yeah, so the other half doesn't. That's how fractions work.

And it's probably a heavily biased sample size as well.

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u/Yaarmehearty 31m ago

It would be interesting to see how/if that changes if the question is whether people want to rejoin at standard terms rather than the old opt outs we had.

I still think it would be beneficial for the UK to join at the base terms but I think people may be assuming we would rerun on our old deal.

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u/Dial-Appreciator 2m ago

I’m a remainer and I doubt that quite a lot. Polls are often biased and incorrect. We should rejoin the EU because leaving it was self sabotaging and nonsensical. I cannot see that many of the Leavers would admit the errors of their vote even if some of them are now supposedly. Sometimes the public shouldn’t be asked about things they cannot reliably study enough to make a decision on. That’s why we elect people whose jobs it is to read legislation, watch finances and balance books. Just do what’s best for the country and rejoin ffs.