High levels of Euroscepticism among British voters may not translate into a vote to leave the EU on June 23, new research has suggested.
Fears of the impact of Brexit on the UK economy may explain the reluctance of some voters to convert their dissatisfaction with Europe into a vote to Leave, the 2015 British Social Attitudes survey indicated.
Some 22% of those questioned said they wanted to leave the EU and 43% said the Union's powers should be reduced - a level of Euroscepticism which has been topped only once since 1992 in the regular survey.
But despite this widespread concern about the EU, a clear majority of those questioned (60%) said the UK should continue to be a member, with just 30% saying it should withdraw.
Just 24% of those questioned by pollsters NatCen Social Research felt the British economy would be better off outside the EU, compared to 40% who said it would be damaged.
NatCen senior research fellow Professor John Curtice said: "Britain is as sceptical about Europe as it has ever been, feelings that seem to be largely driven by concerns about the impact the EU is having on the nation's identity and cultural life, not least as a result of high levels of EU immigration.
"However, for most people, on its own this scepticism is not enough to warrant leaving the EU. The Leave campaign evidently needs to persuade more voters of its economic arguments, while Remain has to assure voters that the economic advantages of membership are worth putting up with interference from Brussels."
Even in Scotland, which has traditionally been viewed as more pro-European than the rest of the UK, Eurosceptics were in the majority, with 17% wanting to quit the EU and 43% wanting its powers reduced - the highest levels since 1999.
Across the country, there was strong support for a number of changes to reduce the EU's impact on the UK:
:: More than two-thirds (68%) favoured reducing EU migrants' access to welfare;
:: A majority (60%) wanted cuts in EU business regulation;
:: More than half (59%) wanted to stop free access to the NHS for nationals of other EU countries; and
:: Just over half (51%) wanted to end the free movement of people in the EU.
Nearly half of those questioned agreed that membership of the EU was "undermining Britain's distinctive identity" against 30% who disagreed.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel