New poll renews pressure on Boris Johnson for Brexit deal

Prime minister Boris Johnson during a media briefing in Downing Street, London - Credit: Matt Dunham/PA Wire

Boris Johnson has come under renewed pressure to strike an EU trade deal after fresh polling showed two-thirds of Britons preferred an Brexit agreement over no-deal.

The survey, conducted by YouGov, shows Britons overwhelmingly support ending the Brexit transition period, which finishes on December 31, with a trade agreement.

Some 66pc of people polled said they supported leaving with a deal, compared to just 15pc who did not. Meanwhile, Conservative voters preferred a deal to no-deal by a ratio of two to one.

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London and the North of England were the regions with the highest levels of support at 73pc and 68pc respectively.

Britain and the EU have agreed to extend discussions beyond the Sunday deadline, vowing negotiators would “go the extra mile” to attempt to clinch an agreement.

This comes as Johnson was told he had “no mandate” to end negotiations without a deal.

Former senior Tory MP Dominic Grieve, one of 21 MPs who had the whip removed last year after voting against the government on Brexit, said: “With trade negotiations hanging by a thread, as we face the worst economic crisis in 300 years, with millions of people up and down the country worried about their businesses and jobs, I urge the government to do everything it can to avert a No Deal.

“The British people have suffered enough without a No Deal Brexit causing more misery and uncertainty for years to come. There is simply no mandate for a No Deal outcome.”

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The poll, which was commissioned by Best for Britain, interviewed 1,703 British adults between December 10 and 11.

Naomi Smith, the group’s chief executive, said: “This poll shows the prime minister has no mandate for a no-deal Brexit.

“A year ago he won the election on a promise of delivering an ‘oven-ready’ trade agreement with the EU. He told voters the chance of no-deal was ‘a million to one’.

“Failing to deliver on those promises just a year down the line, while the country is in the middle of the most painful economic recession in recent memory, would be a betrayal of all those voters who supported the prime minister at the last election and, in his own words, a failure of statesmanship.”