More than half of Britons consider Brexit the wrong decision

This has been the question since the referendum in 2016 Opinion Research Institute “YouGov” The British public regularly post their stance on Brexit. The current poll shows that 56% no longer support Brexit. This brought Britain’s rejection of Brexit to a record high. However, 32% still think Brexit is a good thing.

Until the 2017 general election, the majority of people still believed that Brexit was the right decision. However, attitudes on this have changed rapidly since then. The exceptions are the very short periods of April 2020 and April 2021. The two views currently differ by 24 percentage points.

Difficult exit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union

In the 2016 referendum, 51.89 percent of British voters voted to leave the European Union. Since January 1, 2021, Great Britain is no longer part of the Union. The negotiation stage between the European Union and Great Britain lasted longer than expected and delayed an early exit. To date, however, the Northern Ireland question has not been fully resolved.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants an early resolution to the dispute with Brussels over the special Brexit status of the British province of Northern Ireland. The conservative politician said Thursday in the House of Commons in London that he had a very constructive exchange with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and with European heads of government.

The dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol paralyzes the formation of the government

Sunak said the people of Northern Ireland deserved to see the institutions in that part of the country work again. The dispute over the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol is currently paralyzing the government formation process in the British part of the country. The protocol is part of the Brexit treaty concluded at the end of 2019 and aims to ensure that despite Brexit between EU member Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, no border controls will be necessary.

This is to prevent radical supporters of reunification with the Republic of Ireland from taking up arms again, as they did at the time of the Northern Ireland conflict (1969-1998). Instead, a goods border emerged between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, which many of those who advocate union with Britain oppose.

The DUP wants to scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol

Armed groups on both sides fought a decades-long battle that claimed thousands of lives. The conflict only ended in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement. It states that the regional government is always formed from the two largest parties, Catholic – Republican and Protestant – Union. However, the Protestant Unionist Party wants to abolish the Northern Ireland Protocol. Therefore, she refuses to join the government.