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Majority of Britons want to leave EU: opinion poll

Xinhua, January 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

A majority of Britons want to leave the European Union (EU) while a growing proportion of British citizens "have felt further removed from Europe" over the last 12 months, according to an opinion poll published Thursday by London-based market research company ORB International.

New research from the company has found that Britain is the only European country of the 15 polled where a majority want to leave the bloc.

Among the 15 countries, Britain shows the highest level of support for leaving the EU. Other countries surveyed include France, Germany, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and Iceland.

"If we discount those who don't know (21 percent), the UK is the only country where a majority of those with an opinion would select to leave - 54 percent," ORB International said in a summary of the results.

Johnny Heald, managing director of ORB International, said the results show that Britain is "the black sheep of the family."

"Over the last 12 months significantly more of us have felt further removed from Europe (38 percent) than closer to Europe (13 percent)," he added.

He noted that British Prime Minister David Cameron's negotiations with his European colleagues "appear to be crucial in avoiding Brexit." Endit