This poll shows support for Brexit is collapsing
- Voters back remaining in the EU by 54% to 46%, according to new polling showing an 8 point lead for stopping Brexit.
- The study by polling guru John Curtice found that younger voters who backed leave in 2016 would likely swing a new vote in favour of Remain.
- Campaign groups MPs are stepping up pressure on the Conservatives and Labour to call for a "People's Vote" on the final Brexit deal.
LONDON - Voters would back remaining in the EU by an 8-point margin in a new Brexit referendum, according to new polling.
The study, led by polling guru Professor John Curtice, found that 54% of voters would back remaining in a fresh vote, compared to 46% who would vote to leave.
It also found that younger voters would be most likely to swing a new vote in favour of Remain. Only 70% of those aged less than 40 who voted Leave say they would do so again, while no less than 89% of Leave supporters aged 60 and above say the same.
Analysis of the polling identified "a slow, long-term erosion" of the coalition of support that backed Leave in 2016, identifying key factors that would likely swing a new vote in favour of Remain.
Crucially, the percentage of Leave of voters who say they would make the same choice again has fallen gradually but consistently since the 2016 referendum. That means just 81% of Leave voters would back Brexit again, while the proportion of Remain voters who would vote the same way has held steady at 90%.
Push for a people's vote
The news comes as campaign groups and backbench MPs continue to push Theresa May for a "People's Vote" which hands voters the chance to accept or reject any deal the prime minister brings back from Brussels.
On Tuesday the GMB union became the latest Labour-affiliated union to back the campaign.
In a statement, general secretary Tim Roache said: "As trade unionists, when we negotiate a pay deal with an employer, we go back to our members and ask them if they're happy with it. Whether they want to accept or reject it.
"That's what people deserve now, because the promises that were made during the referendum campaign are simply not the reality we are facing."
Roache added that his members "did not vote for economic chaos or to put jobs and hard won rights on the line. That's why GMB supports your right to decide what sort of Brexit, is the right Brexit. That's why we support a public vote on the final deal."
The Labour party will be under pressure at its upcoming conference to shift position to explicitly back a second referendum, but has so far resisted attempts to make it official party policy.
Meanwhile the prime minister Theresa May has continued to rule out the possibility of a new vote, insisting that it would be a "gross betrayal of our democracy."