80 per cent of Britons want to quit EU in biggest poll for 40 years. Britain is marching towards the EU exit door today after eight out of 10 people voted to leave in a historic poll.
The biggest vote on this country’s ties to Brussels for 40 years saw 80 per cent say they no longer want to be in Europe, the Daily Express can reveal. It marks a huge leap forward in this newspaper’s crusade to get Britain out of the EU. Some 14,581 people voted – 11,706 of them want the UK to quit compared with 2,725 who want to remain part of the EU.
The mini-referendum – the first on the issue since 1975 – was organised by two senior Tory backbenchers and a prospective Tory MP. They believe the overwhelming result, which will be presented to David Cameron today, will force him to bring forward his planned in-or-out vote on the UK’s future in Europe to next year instead of 2017.
The landslide result heaps further pressure on the Prime Minister to act as it comes just days after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker compared British membership of the EU to a doomed romance and suggested it was time for Britain to get a divorce.
The Tory poll was organised across three neighbouring parliamentary constituencies by Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough, Philip Hollobone, MP for Kettering, and Tom Pursglove, who is standing as Tory candidate for Corby and East Northamptonshire at this year’s general election.
Following the count, carried out in the London offices of the Daily Express yesterday, Mr Bone said: “Eight out of 10 people who took part want to come out of Europe – that is extraordinary. “It is very, very, very clear they want to come out.” The turnout, he added, shows there is a “huge interest” in having a nationwide referendum. “People actually bothering to put X on a ballot paper clearly shows that people have been bothered to take part in a referendum and there is a huge interest in it,” he added.