EU in/out referendum: Just 15 per cent of Tories want UK to leave
Just 15 per cent of Conservative party members would “definitely” vote for the UK to leave the EU, according to a new poll out today.
The poll, led by Tim Bale at Queen Mary University of London and Paul Webb at the University of Sussex, found that while about one in seven Tory party members said they were unequivocally in favour of a Brexit, nearly two-thirds said their vote in the referendum will depend on the outcome of the Prime Minister’s renegotiations with the European Union. One in five Conservatives said they would vote to stay in the EU no matter what, according to the poll.
Bale said the results should offer “a degree of solace to David Cameron after a difficult week.”
The Prime Minister has faced increased pressure from Tory backbenchers, who have formed a pro-Brexit Conservatives for Britain group and lamented Cameron’s apparent refusal to offer government ministers a “free vote.”
“The results confirm what Cameron and Osborne must have been hoping: the number of die-hard ‘out regardless’ members of the party grassroots is small – and probably smaller than many of their most Eurosceptic MPs might like,” Bale said.