YAHOO UK NEWS 28.5.09
Britons increasingly Eurosceptic: poll
British voters are increasingly opposed to the European Union, a poll
for the Economist weekly revealed Thursday, just days before
elections for the European Parliament.
The poll commissioned [er ahem! 'carried out " would be correct! -
cs] by YouGov shows that over the past 25 years, the proportion of
people who think that Britain's membership of the EU is a good thing
has fallen from 43 percent to 31 percent.
The share of respondents who think the EU is a "bad thing" has risen
from 30 percent to 37 percent.
And while the bloc has expanded eastwards to boost its membership to
27 states, British voters have become more and more reluctant to
support greater integration. Just one in five backs the idea now
compared to one in three in 1995.
The poll shows 33 percent want a less integrated Europe "with the EU
amounting to little more than a free trade area".
And the number of people who want Britain to pull out of the EU has
almost doubled, from 12 percent to 21 percent.
A total of 2,322 adults in Britain were questioned between May 22 and
May 26.
Many observers believe Britons will opt for fringe parties in the
elections to lodge a protest vote against the main parties, whose
lawmakers have been embarrassed by damaging revelations about their
expenses.
In the June 4-7 elections, an estimated 375 million voters across the
EU will elect 736 deputies for a five-year term at the parliament,
which is the only directly-elected EU institution.
The parliament, which has an important role passing pan-European
legislation drafted by the EU Commission and passes the commission's
annual budget, is expected to remain under centre-right control after
the elections. (rubbish our comment)
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