A large majority of UK voters would rather Britain leave the European Union (EU) without a deal than accept a deal that is not in the nation’s best interest.
Only 26 per cent of respondents to a Sky Data poll said any deal would be preferable to walking away from negotiations, with 76 per cent of respondents backing a “no deal” Brexit scenario rather than accepting a bad deal.
Whilst opinions on Brexit are frequently portrayed as clashing along generational lines, support for the statement “no deal is better than a bad deal” was found to be strong across all age groups, holding at 75 per cent amongst 18 to 34-year- olds, 73 per cent of 35 to 54-year-olds, and 76 per cent of people over 55.
Despite barely more than one in four Britons believing that “any deal is better than no deal”, on Wednesday Labour vowed to block any proposition to take Britain out of Europe without a formal agreement with Brussels.
“We would oppose that,” a spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said, responding to news that the government is making plans to prepare the UK for a “no deal” scenario.
“If the Government comes back with that outcome, we will seek to push for continued negotiations to get the kind of deal that’s in the interests of the country,” he said.
Whilst Labour’s Brexit secretary Keir Starmer has described the prospect of leaving the bloc with no deal as “the worst of all situations”, many Leave supporters welcome the option — which is also sometimes referred to as a “clean”, or a “hard” Brexit — as the only way to truly be free of rule from Brussels.
The findings come amidst a fifth round of talks between Britain and the EU, with the situation described on Thursday as being in a state of “deadlock” by Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
EU representatives refuse to discuss how the relationship between Europe and the UK could look post-Brexit unless the UK agrees to pay a divorce bill — which could be upwards of £50 billion — and continues financing Brussels projects in the coming years.