Four years after Brexit, only a quarter of Britons believe the country should be out of the European Union, according to a report published on Wednesday, the lowest share of the vote to leave the bloc in 2016, reports "Reuters".
Britain will hold a national election on July 4, the first since the country officially left the EU in 2020. Although Europe has long been a divisive issue in British politics, the issue of Brexit has barely figured in the election campaign so far.
The British Social Attitudes Survey by the National Center for Social Research found that 24% said Britain should be out of the EU, compared with 36% in 2019 and 41% in 2016.
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It also found that the impact of Brexit on issues such as the economy and immigration is viewed more negatively now than in 2019, when the last election was held. The change was particularly noticeable among those who voted to leave in 2016.
Around 40% of Leave voters think the economy is worse off as a result of Brexit, compared to 18% who thought it would be the same in 2019. Close two-thirds now think immigration is higher as a result of leaving the EU, compared with just 5% who previously expected this to be the case.
"In short, it appears that for many of those who voted to leave the EU, Brexit did not turn out to be what they expected," said the report, co-authored by pollster John Curtis.
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The survey of 5,578 people, conducted between September 12 and October 31 last year, also found that public trust and confidence in government had fallen to record lows, with 45% saying they "almost never" do not trust the British government to put the needs of the nation above the interests of its own political party.