Only 14 percent of the British are of the opinion that Brexit went better than expected.
More than six out of ten Brits rated Brexit as negative or worse than expected in a recent survey. A good quarter (26 percent) stated in the survey by the opinion research institute Opinium published at Christmas that Brexit had so far gone worse than expected. 35 percent had previously expected that Britain’s exit from the EU would go badly – and their expectations were confirmed.
Only 14 percent were of the opinion that Brexit went better than expected. Just before Christmas, around 1,900 British adults were interviewed for this.
Great Britain finally bid farewell to the European Union and the customs union around a year ago. Formally, Brexit took place on January 31, 2020, but a transition phase with largely the same rules as before still applied until the end of the year. A few days before the break, London and Brussels agreed on a joint trade pact, which both sides signed at Christmas.
According to the Observer, who commissioned the survey, 42 percent of those who voted to leave the Brexit referendum have a negative opinion. “We are now seeing a significant minority of ‘Leave’ voters saying things are going bad, or at least worse than expected,” said Opinium pollster Adam Drummond. Instead of two closed blocks of Brexit opponents and advocates, the group of Brexit supporters is now more divided.
In the past few months, the consequences of Brexit have shown themselves to be impressive: there were gaps in supermarket shelves and gas stations were sometimes on dry land because there were no truck drivers. Before Brexit, these often came from Eastern Europe, now the free movement of workers has ended. There is also a shortage of workers in other service occupations.
(APA/dpa)