UK Edition
Conservative voters are losing faith in Brexit with many now believing that the costs outweigh the benefits, a new poll has shown.
Scepticism among Tory supporters towards Britain's departure from the EU is now greater than support for how it is going, as senior backbenchers urged the Government to do more to deliver on the opportunities of leaving the trade bloc.
The findings of a new poll by Opinium, which surveyed 2,000 representative voters on behalf of the campaigning group Best for Britain, found some 33 per cent of those planning to vote Conservative at the next election believed Brexit had created more problems than it solved.
This compared with 22 per cent who said it had solved more problems, while one-third (32 per cent) said leaving the EU had neither created nor solved more problems or opportunities and the remaining 13 per cent said they did not know.
The main concern of the Tory voters currently disillusioned with Brexit was problems around the Northern Ireland border, cited by 39 per cent of respondents.
Friction has continued amid the ongoing stalemate between the Government and Brussels around the Protocol, which Unionists fear is driving a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
This was followed by anxiety around costly red tape affecting trade with other countries (36 per cent) and it being more difficult to work abroad without freedom of movement (33 per cent).
Among the public as a whole, meanwhile, 57 per cent said Brexit was causing more problems than it was solving.
Party needs to do more, say 'Spartans'
Two of the Brexit "Spartan" Tories who voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal on all three occasions said their party was yet to do enough to convince the public of the merits of leaving Brussels.
Sir John Redwood, the MP for Wokingham who served as the head of Margaret Thatcher’s Downing Street policy unit, told The Telegraph it was “deeply disappointing that the obvious Brexit wins haven’t been achieved”.
“It’s entirely what you’d expect because the Government has wanted to bring forward the Brexit wins but has been systematically blocked and upended by the anti-Brexit establishment," he said.
“We don’t yet control our borders, or control the small boats in the way that was intended. We haven’t sorted out fishing and that was going to be one of the big wins. We have remained wedded to an austerity model of economics, based on the Maastricht criteria. We are letting [voters] down and we need to show that they were right to vote for Brexit.”
Craig Mackinlay, the MP for South Thanet, said: “I’m not surprised to hear that because we have been far too timid in using the freedom of Brexit to actually deliver Brexit dividends. So that is the fault of our own administration.
“We should by now have been using the freedoms that we have.”
One Eurosceptic Tory backbencher said they were “very sorry” that Jacob Rees-Mogg no longer held the post of Brexit opportunities minister and said their colleagues “still feel like we’re fighting battles with the Government” over the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and tackling Brussels bureaucracy.
'We dare not open this Pandora's Box'
Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chairman of the defence select committee, told The Telegraph: "We are happy to ditch a PM to course-correct our economic plans, and even revisit the Integrated Review to update our tested defence posture. So why not exhibit the courage to upgrade our Brexit model that’s now costing us 4 per cent of GDP a year?
"No one is calling for another referendum, but as this poll confirms, more of the electorate is saying this isn’t the 'Brexit' they voted for. Yet it still remains such a taboo subject in Westminster, and specifically within our membership that we dare not open this Pandora's Box."
Naomi Smith, the chief executive of Best for Britain, a pro-EU campaign group, said: “Our polling clearly shows voters across the political spectrum now realise Brexit has made the UK poorer, less competitive and less attractive for businesses.
“Those claiming to represent voters must stop insulting our intelligence and start advocating closer ties with Europe.”
The Government wants to revise or repeal almost 4,000 "retained" EU laws, that were transposed into UK law when Brexit took legal effect, by the end of this year.
But Rishi Sunak has noted ministers can push back decisions on a specific EU law until June 2026, leading to concern that some rules may be in place for longer.
In his first major domestic speech on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said Britain was “seizing the opportunities of Brexit to ensure our regulatory system is agile and pro-innovation”.
Jeremy Hunt, his Chancellor, unveiled new proposals last month which are designed to tear up “overbearing” EU legislation, ranging from investment funds to pensions, in a move he hopes will boost the financial services industry.