With less than two weeks before the UK decides its future on European Union membership two polls yesterday (11) showed that voters are still closely divided.
According to a YouGov survey for the Sunday Times the “leave” campaign has a narrow one point lead. Earlier in the week on Monday (6) the same pollster had the “remain” side with a one point lead. An Opinium poll for the Observer newspaper had the “remain” camp with a two point lead.
On Friday (10) a ORB poll for the Independent newspaper, showed a sharp swing towards a vote for Britain to exit the EU, which resulted in the pound weakening by 1.2 per cent against the US dollar.
UK bookmakers still have the remain vote as an odds-on favourite and likely outcome even though the odds for a leave vote shortened after the ORB poll.
After last year’s polls on the UK general election which showed similar contradictory information the financial markets have been reported to paying closer attention to bookmakers odds this time round.
On June 23 the UK will go the polls to decide the EU referendum. The consequences will have implications for the country’s trade and economy as the result will decide whether the UK continues to be part of the world’s largest free trade area.
Research figures released last month by the British Election Study pointed to how 51.7% of Indian-origin voters will vote for Britain to remain in the EU, compared to 27.74% who are voting for a Brexit. This was in comparison to the white population who are pretty evenly split between Brexit and Remain.
Kulsuma Aktergetty images
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