Nearly a third of Leave voters think Brexit is going badly

Only 16 per cent of Brits think Brexit is going well, new YouGov research has found.

Earlier this week, Boris Johnson’s bid to effectively tear up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol cleared its first Commons hurdle, amid Tory warnings the plans are illegal.

MPs voted 295 to 221, majority 74, to give the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill a second reading, which clears the way for it to undergo detailed scrutiny in the coming weeks.

The prime minister claimed the proposed legislation, which gives ministers powers to override parts of the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland, could be carried out “fairly rapidly”, with the proposals in law by the end of the year.

But his predecessor in No 10, Theresa May, led the criticism from the Tory benches as she delivered a withering assessment of the legality and impact of the Bill.

Mrs May made clear she would not support the legislation and warned it will “diminish” the UK’s global standing.

Elsewhere, confidence in the Brexit project is rapidly diminishing among Brits.

New YouGov research shows 54 per cent of the general population thinks it is going badly, while confidence among Leave and Conservative voters is also wearing thin.

A third of Tory supporters say it is going well, and just 31 per cent of Leave voters say the same.

The numbers have been ticking up since the start of January 2021, when new rules came into force between the UK and EU.

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.