17 January 2016
One of the points of contention between the two sides of the EU referendum debate is whether a vote to leave the UK would potentially constitute a threat to the future of the Union. The former Conservative leader, Lord Hague, was accused by those in the Leave camp of peddling a scare story when over […]
22 December 2015
The public has become acutely aware of changes in immigration rates and attributes these changes to the UK’s membership of the European Union. This has been a direct consequence of the growth of immigration from the EU accession countries in Eastern and Central Europe. Inevitably, this process has important implications for the likelihood of a […]
16 December 2015
The uncertainty surrounding just how close the referendum race really is has grown today with the publication of two further polls of referendum vote intention, one from ComRes for the Open Europe think tank, the other from Ipsos MORI for the Evening Standard. In contrast to the picture of a very tight race painted by […]
16 December 2015
Two polls released yesterday helped create a flurry of excitement in advance of this week’s meeting of the European Council at which, we are promised, the renegotiation of Britain’s terms of membership will be on the agenda. One, from Survation, suggested that Leave were narrowly ahead (by 51% to 49%), while the other, from ICM, […]
15 December 2015
In the latest in Chatham House’s series of podcasts exploring the key questions in the lead-up to the EU Referendum, I speak to regular What UK Thinks: EU contributor Professor Matthew Goodwin about the current state of public attitudes towards membership of the EU, what lessons can be learned from the Scottish referendum, and how close […]
9 December 2015
Followers of our Poll of Polls will be aware that it has been suggesting that the referendum race has narrowed somewhat during the course of the autumn. At the end of September it stood briefly at Remain 54% Leave 46%, for most of October it read, Remain 53% Leave 47%, but since the middle of […]
2 December 2015
The surprise outright victory of David Cameron’s Conservative party at this year’s General Election means that we are now certain there will be a referendum on Britain’s future in the European Union (EU). At some point before the end of 2017 we will be asked whether we think the UK should remain a member of […]
27 November 2015
What arguments will have the strongest effects on Britain’s EU referendum? Will citizens be more strongly influenced by arguments that focus on economics, or those that stress political or cultural points? To answer these questions we undertook an online experiment, testing the effects of positive and negative arguments that focus on economics, political influence or […]
8 November 2015
It seems that tomorrow the Prime Minister will finally put his cards on the table and provide other EU leaders with an indication of what he hopes to achieve in the renegotiation of the terms of Britain’s EU membership. How far he succeeds in achieving his objectives will, we are told, determine whether he will […]
28 October 2015
As the campaigns to persuade Britain to remain in or leave the EU start to take shape, both sides will be looking for clues as to what might swing the argument for voters. There will, of course, be practical claims and counter claims about the economy, migration, jobs, etc. But what of more subtle appeals to matters of the ‘heart’?
