Most Britons now want to remain in EU - poll

More than half of Britons now say they want to remain in the European Union - a reversal of last year's decision to Brexit according to a new poll.

The poll found that 51 per cent of Britons a 10-point over those who still back Brexit would now like to keep European Union membership, against 41 percent who want to leave the bloc, a near reversal of last year’s referendum result.  

After people who said they did not know were pushed for an answer or excluded, the survey found 55.5% in favour of Remain and 44.5% backed Leave.

In the referendum last year, 52 per cent of Britons voted to leave the EU and 48 per cent voted to remain.

The BMG poll of 1400 people for The Independent published on the newspaper's website on Saturday came as Britain moves into a second phase of negotiations on exiting the EU, which will focus on trade.

The Independent said the lead for "remain" over "leave" was the biggest in any poll so far since the vote in June 2016.

But the head of polling at BMG, quoted in the Independent, said that the reason for the change was a shift in opinion among those who did not vote in last year's referendum, while around nine in 10 "leave" and "remain" voters were unchanged in their views.

The survey was carried out from December 5 to 8.