Two thirds of voters want to quit the EU, new poll finds in boost for Theresa May

MORE than two thirds of the British public now support Brexit, according to a new poll which will bolster Theresa May’s chances in the upcoming election.

The huge shift in support for leaving the EU comes as millions of people who voted to Remain have switched to back Brexit instead.

Polling experts say the new figures present an opportunity for the Conservatives, allowing them to target “a massive lake of voters with very little competition”.

YouGov polled voters last week asking for their attitudes towards Brexit nearly a year after the EU referendum.

45 per cent said they were Eurosceptics who were keen to leave the EU, while 22 per cent called for politicians to ignore the result of the vote entirely and stay tied to Brussels.

However, a crucial group of 23 per cent – dubbed “Re-Leavers” – said that they voted Remain last year, but now want the Government to carry out the will of the people by leaving Europe.

That means that a total of 68 per cent of the population would like to see Britain withdraw from the EU.

According to YouGov, a large majority of pro-Brexit voters will back Mrs May in the election on June 8.

Marcus Roberts, the company’s director of international projects, said: “The rise of the ‘Re-Leavers’ mean that the Conservatives are fishing in a massive lake, while the other parties are casting their rods into a pond.”

He added: “When discussing Brexit and its implications in the campaign the electorate is not two pools of voters split almost down the middle 52/48.

“Instead, it is instead one massive lake made up of Leave and Re-Leave voters and one much smaller Remain pond.”

Mr Roberts suggested that the Tories were picking up vast number of Brexit supporters who previously voted for Labour or Ukip.

Labour’s “somewhat opaque stance on Brexit” under Jeremy Corbyn has put off Re-Leavers from backing the party, he said.

The Liberal Democrats have focussed their attention on picking up support from pro-EU voters.

But the YouGov research suggests that this strategy may not work, because the total pool of “Hard Remainers” is just over a fifth of the population.

Polls suggest that the Prime Minister is on course to win a large majority after she unexpectedly called the snap election in order to secure a personal mandate for the first time.

Today a separate YouGov poll provided another boost for the Conservatives, finding the country winning in almost every region of Britain.

The party is beating Labour not just in its traditional Home Counties strongholds, but also in areas such as the West Midlands, Yorkshire and even Wales.

In the North-West – usually one of Labour’s strongest areas – the two parties are equal on 42 per cent each.

Mr Corbyn’s party leads by five percentage points in London and by two in the North-East, while the SNP keeps its strong lead in Scotland.

The Tories have gained around ten points in nearly every region since the 2015 election, according to YouGov’s figures.

A third survey from the pollsters, also released today, found that nearly a quarter of Labour voters do not want to see Mr Corbyn become Prime Minister.

The extraordinary figures state that 64 per cent of all voters prefer Mrs May to her left-wing rival, with even 22 per cent of Labour supporters backing the incumbent.

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