The ‘hidden’ Brexit polls that tear apart the Remainer myth that Britons want to rejoin the EU

The polling, conducted by Opinium for The Observer, consistently showed support for staying outside the EU rather than rejoining.

Starting in May 2025, the polls continue to track the mood of the nation in July, September, November and December last year.

The surveys continued to show support for remaining outside the EU in April, May and June of this year.

A new dataset, also released by Britain Unbound, echoed that the majority of voters prefer control of laws and immigration over EU membership and widely prefer the pound over the inevitability of being forced to adopt the Euro.

By June 3, initial polling by Opinium found that 55 per cent of those surveyed wished to remain outside the EU, compared to 33 per cent in favour of rejoining and 12 per cent who were unsure.

Interestingly, those in favour of rejoining had dropped since the last survey on May 20, while those wishing to remain detached had seen a spike – with the public casting increasing doubt the more Labour edges towards rebuilding ties with the Brussels bloc.

Veteran Brexiteer Lord John Redwood pointed to what he described as “the most crucial” dataset, revealing 59 per cent of voters oppose Britain sacrificing powers to rejoin the bloc.

He told GB News: “This shows that if the public doesn’t even want what would be a mild rejoining, they are certainly not going to want the full-fat thing.

“This is a very important finding, but the Government are blindly pushing on with a very silly reset, making a sacrifice to get nothing back in return – it’s all cost and all surrender.”

Lord Redwood pointed to the Erasmus+ project – the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport – which would cost the UK a scorching £800million a year to re-enroll in.

“We would sacrifice important legal advantages for innovation in agriculture and pharmaceuticals,” the former Welsh Secretary added.

“The closer to the single market we get, the more we lose the right to make our own trade deals – it’s bad, bad, bad.”

One data set, conducted by Ipsos in May, found 52 per cent of those surveyed agreed that the Government should have total control over who comes into Britain, regardless of whether that inhibits EU relations.

Meanwhile, just 38 per cent disagreed, valuing an improved relationship with the bloc over border and immigration control, while 10 per cent couldn’t decide.

Another huge point of contention comes from the proposed adoption of the Euro, should Britain rejoin the EU – which Lord Redwood described as “a bridge too far”.

He noted data from before the Brexit referendum showed 80 per cent of Britons were profoundly against joining the Euro.

YouGov polling conducted in May found that among 2016 Leave voters, a whopping 85 per cent claimed replacing the pound with the Euro would be a crucial factor in their defiance of rejoining.

Of those voters, 22 per cent said they would outright oppose rejoining regardless, while 55 per cent said currency conversion would make them far less likely to support it.

Meanwhile, 43 per cent of Remain voters also agreed that losing sterling would sway them against Britain rejoining.

“Britain preserved the right not to join the Euro when joining the EU to begin with, and British people are far too sensible to give our currency away,” said Lord Redwood.

“Under Labour’s insistence to get into bed with the EU today, they are bound to demand adoption of the Euro – which makes it even less likely to sit well among public opinion.”

Lord Redwood also warned the EU would want to drag Britain back into the European carbon and emissions trading system, which he said would spell “even higher taxes and dearer electric and gases for business”.

Nearly 70 per cent of those surveyed agreed that establishing a public energy provider was something the UK Government should do alone, alongside setting employment law and refusing criminals entry to the country.

Less controversial topics, such as setting VAT rates and nationalisation of the railways, were the most supported by those surveyed for the Government to handle alone without outside interference from the EU.

Lord Redwood expressed his outrage at the polling data reflecting similar views held at the time of the 2016 referendum.

“Remain keep repeating out of date and distorted views”, he said, “It’s time to get out the truth, and it’s outrageous that the media don’t challenge false narratives”.

He added: “I’m proud of voting for Brexit, and so should everyone else be. It’s much better to live in a self-governing country, and we would only see slower growth.”