Voters in swing Tory seats back new Brexit referendum, study shows

Voters in many of the most marginal Conservative seats now back a referendum on the final Brexit deal, according to a major new study.

The YouGov survey of more than 25,000 people revealed that a majority of voters in all 67 of the most vulnerable Tory seats now want the public to be given a new vote.

The survey for the People’s Vote campaign found that, across all 67 seats, an average of 56% of people want the public to be given a final say compared to 44% who do not.

The full study will be presented to MPs by the campaign at an event in Parliament today.

In a foreword to the study, former YouGov president Peter Kellner said: ‘Support for a People’s Vote is… high in the 67 most marginal Conservative seats – broadly those where the local MP’s majority is below 5,000.

“In every seat, supporters of a new public vote outnumber opponents. Overall, the margin is 56% support, 44% oppose.

‘If anything, these figures understate the support for a new referendum. They show responses to a general question at a time when nobody knows whether there will be a deal between London and Brussels that wins the support of parliament. Other YouGov research suggests that if there is no such deal, support for a public vote rises.’

Mr Kellner warned politicians to beware the ‘private majority’ of voters, who he said made up almost four in five voters.

People in this group were happy to discuss Brexit in private, he said, but did not do so in public, including with politicians or journalists.

Mr Kellner said many ‘are having second thoughts about the wisdom of leaving the European Union’.

It comes as Cabinet Office minister David Lidington said Britain and the EU were “almost within touching distance” of a Brexit deal.

Theresa May’s de facto deputy said that after negotiators in Brussels again worked late into the night, it was still possible there could be an agreement within the next 48 hours.

“Still possible but not at all definite I think pretty much sums it up,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He added: “We are not quite there yet. This was always going to be an extremely difficult, extremely complex negotiation but we are almost within touching distance now.

“But, as the PM has said, it can’t be a deal at any price. It has got to be one that works in terms of feeling we can deliver on the referendum result and that is why there is a measure of caution.”