Polls Show Half of Britons Want New Brexit Referendum

Two-thirds of Britons now think the government will end up with a bad deal when Britain leaves the European Union early next year, and half want the chance to vote on what happens next.

With less than eight months until Britain is due to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to find a proposal to maintain economic ties with the bloc that pleases both sides of her divided party and is acceptable to negotiators in Brussels.

A Sky News poll said 65 per cent of British voters thought the government would end up with a bad deal - an increase of 15 points from March - and half supported a referendum to choose between leaving with a deal, leaving without a deal or staying in the EU. The poll indicated 40 per cent opposed such a vote, while 10 per cent did not know.

When asked to choose between three options - Mrs May's deal, a no deal or staying in the EU - 48 per cent said they would prefer to stay in the EU, 27 per cent wanted to leave with no deal and 13 per cent would opt for the government's deal.

Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,466 Sky customers online between July 20 and 23. The data is weighted according to the profile of the UK population.

The shift in public opinion comes as Mrs May has stepped up planning for a so called "no-deal" Brexit that would see the world's fifth largest economy crash out of the EU on March 29, 2019, without a trade agreement.

A separate poll on Friday suggested that the proportion of voters who favour a referendum on the final terms of any Brexit deal has overtaken those who do not, for the first time.

Mrs May has repeatedly ruled out holding another public vote on Brexit, saying the population spoke in the June 23, 2016, referendum, in which 51.9 per...