Does Britain really want to rejoin the EU? (Julian Jessop, 19 May 2026, CapX)
For example, one recent poll by More in Common found that most people are keen that the UK and EU should be able to trade more freely with each other (why would anyone not be?). However, only a minority want to ‘align more closely with EU laws and regulations’. The UK would, of course, be obliged to adopt all ‘EU laws and regulations’ automatically if Britain rejoined the bloc.
Similarly, YouGov polling has suggested that 80% of Labour voters want a ‘customs union’ with the EU. But more sophisticated polling by the same company (for Queen Mary University London) has found that only 9% of Labour voters think that UK tariff policy should be decided by someone other than the UK government. Again, this is exactly what a customs union with the EU would entail.