Poll: Farage Should Lead Referendum Campaign, EU Open Borders Make Public Feel Less Safe

A new poll by Survation has found that the British public trust UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage most with Britain’s border control and believe he should lead the ‘Out’ or ‘Leave’ campaign(s) during the UK’s European Union (EU) referendum.

Asked which British political party leader has the best policy relating to controlling Britain’s borders, 25 per cent picked Nigel Farage, 20 per cent picked David Cameron, and just 10 per cent picked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

And when asked who would win a debate against Prime Minister David Cameron in an EU membership debate, 25 per cent of those polled picked Mr. Farage, with 15 per cent thinking Boris Johnson could win, and just 8 per cent believing Theresa May could do the job.

Embarrassingly for the more Westminster-establishment ‘Vote Leave’ campaign, just 3 per cent of people think one of their top dogs, former Chancellor Lord Lawson, could do the job. And just 1.6 per cent of people think their UKIP sign-up Douglas Carswell could beat the PM, and just 1.2 per cent think his best friend and Tory MEP Daniel Hannan could.

And when asked who should be the “face” of the “anti EU movement”, 26 per cent said they thought Mr. Farage was the best choice for the referendum, followed by Boris Johnson on 13 per cent, Theresa May on 8 per cent, James Dyson on 3.7 per cent, and Messrs Carswell and Hannan on 1.8 and 1.4 per cent respectively.

The poll also revealed that more people than not feel less safe inside the European Union, and less safe because of the continent’s open borders policies, than feel safe because of them.

Twenty-nine per cent of those polled said they felt less safe because of Britain’s EU membership, while 28 per cent said they feel more safe because of it. Thirty per cent said it made no difference, 13 per cent didn’t express an opinion.

And only nine per cent of people said that open borders and free movement made them feel safe, with 48 per cent saying it made them feel unsafe. Thirty-three per cent said it made no difference, and 11 per cent said they didn’t know.