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Politics

11th Nov 2019

British voters would rather Northern Ireland leave the UK in exchange for good Brexit deal

Rory Cashin

The latest poll shows a wide margin in favour of it.

YouGov have asked mainland Britons a series of questions regarding Northern Ireland, and its place within the UK following Brexit.

The questions asked were presented to both Leave and Remain voters, with the first being: “How much do you care about things that happen in Northern Ireland?”

On average, 51% said they care a fair amount, while 41% said they don’t care very much or at all. This was broken down further into the Remain voters (62% do care, 30% do not) and Leave voters (48% do care, 47% do not).

Next, they were asked if they would be bothered if Northern Ireland left the UK and the answers broke down as follows:

  • General Population: 9% pleased, 41% not bothered, 41% upset
  • Remain voters: 10% pleased, 33% not bothered, 49% upset
  • Leave voters: 8% pleased, 50% not bothered, 37% upset

And finally, they were asked if they would rather have Northern Ireland leave the UK, in favour of the rest of the UK getting a favourable Brexit deal.

58% of the general population said they’d rather Northern Ireland leave, with just 18% saying they’d rather have Northern Ireland stay part of the UK, instead of getting a good Brexit deal.

Those numbers are broken down into the following: Remain voters – 58% preferred Brexit deal, 22% Northern Ireland to stay, and Leave voters – 64% preferred Brexit deal, 16% for Northern Ireland to stay part of the UK.

The poll was conducted amongst a group of 1,641 adults in Great Britain at the end of last month.

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