More than four in ten Brits would be prepared to lose trade with the EU if it meant a drop in migration from the continent, an exclusive poll for HuffPost UK reveals.
A BMG opinion poll released today reveals 43 per cent of voters agree that a reduction in trade with the EU is a “price worth paying” for getting back control of immigration.
Just 26 per cent disagreed.
Unsurprisingly, Ukip voters are the most prepared to make the sacrifice, with 75 per cent of those who support the anti-EU party willing to accept less trade for more immigration control.
Among Tory voters, 59 per cent support the compromise, as do 32 per cent of Labour voters.
Prime Minster Theresa May has yet to reveal what relationship a post-Brexit UK would have with the EU, but on a trip to China earlier this month acknowledged that Leave voters in the referendum wanted “some” control over EU migration.
She has, however, ruled out an Australian-style points-based system.
Today’s opinion poll findings come as an increasing number of Labour figures admit that scrapping freedom of movement is preferable to the UK staying in the Single Market.
Last week, Rachel Reeves, Emma Reynolds and Stephen Kinnock all backed calls for free movement of EU citizens to the UK to be abolished, while in an interview with the HuffPost UK Jonathan Reynolds said some voters had “genuine emotional concerns” over high levels of immigration.
Even Chuka Umunna – a prominent Remain campaigner and chair of Vote Leave Watch – admitted he would sacrifice Single Market membership in exchange for ending current rules on free movement.
Umunna told HuffPost UK last week: “If continuation of the free movement we have is the price of Single Market membership then clearly we couldn’t remain in the Single Market, but we are not at that point yet.”
BMG surveyed 1,787 respondents between 20th-23rd September.