Poll: Brexit voters would accept free movement for EU single market access

LONDON — A majority of Brits who voted to leave the European Union in 2016 would now accept the return of free movement in exchange for EU single market access, according to a new poll.

Research by the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, published Thursday, argued that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House had “fundamentally changed the context” in which Brits see U.K.-EU relations.

YouGov/DataPraxis polled 2,125 Brits as part of its study. It found that 54 percent of those who backed Brexit in 2016 would accept the full free movement of people to travel, live and work across EU borders in return for access to the bloc’s single market.

Some 59 percent of “red wall voters” — those in key constituencies which have changed hands between Labour and the Tories in recent elections — said they would back that trade-off. And 81 percent of those who supported Labour in 2024 also backed the idea.

Among all U.K. voters poll, 68 percent supported the idea, with 18 percent against it. Supporters of Nigel Farage’s pro-Brexit Reform UK narrowly opposed such a trade-off, by 45 percent to 44 percent.

The researchers suggested support for a rethink could be linked to the U.K.’s high levels of immigration, even after Brexit — meaning Britain’s departure from the bloc is no longer seen as a way to control borders.

Labour pledged in its election manifesto that it would not rejoin the single market or customs union. However, it has embarked on a “reset” of EU relations since entering office in July.