It’s been 2 years and 6 months since the referendum in June 2016 and the country has been in constant turmoil ever since. Now, with Theresa May’s Brexit deal failing to get through parliament and a failed vote of no confidence, are the people changing their minds?
Sunderland is the ‘Brexit capital’ and voted 61% to leave the European Union, but has that changed. Polling across the country has been up and down for Brexit but Sunderland is a Brexit stronghold and recent visits from pro-Brexit figures such as Tim Martin and Nigel Farage to the North East drew in huge crowds.
However, the 3 Sunderland MPs are backing a People’s vote: Sharon Hodgeson from Sunderland West and Washington has launched a survey to ask how people would vote now. Her constituency would still vote leave but with a slight move towards remain.
Sunderland South MP Bridget Philipson, who is campaigning for a people vote, said:
“Many young people were denied the opportunity to vote in the 2016 referendum, and now have grave concerns about what Brexit will mean for them. Given that the impact will be felt for years to come, it is only right that they are given the chance to have their say on our country’s future through a People’s Vote.”
Word on Wearside created their own poll to see if the way people would vote has changed. The questions asked in the survey were:
‘How did you vote in the 2016 referendum?’
How would you vote if you were asked again?’
Our poll results show that Remain is currently the favoured position by people 2 years after the vote, however it is difficult to say what the British public want as a whole, our demographics are student based and many of them voted remain the poll reflects that. Overall the data shows that both leave and remain have gained support overall, this could be for several reasons. People who did not vote in 2016, such as those who were not old enough or those who did not want to vote.
The results of the 2016 referendum was ‘Leave’ 52% ‘Remain’ 48% but our survey shows ‘Leave’ 45% and ‘Remain’ 55%. This is still close, but Remain is clearly increasing its lead over Leave, this possibly due to the chaos caused by Brexit and the uncertain future.