On Friday David Cameron is expected to trigger the start of the European Union referendum campaign, with June 23 the most likely date for the vote.
But do other European Union nations actually want Britain to stay? A poll of Europeans conducted by Lord Ashcroft and published today reveals the other member states' attitude towards Brexit.
A majority of people in all 27 other EU member states would prefer the United Kingdom remain part of the bloc. Overall 60% of those asked did not want to see Brexit with just 10% believing the EU would be better off without the UK. Of those asked, 30% said it did not matter whether Britain remained or left.
People in Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain were the most keen for the UK to stay in the EU. While those in Austria, Cyprus, France and Luxembourg were happiest for Britain to quit the union.
However while Europeans want British voters to choose to stay onboard, they are less keen on Britain being given special treatment in order to persuade it to remain.
The poll asked which of these statements was closest to the respondents view:
"It is important that the UK should remain a member of the EU, so I would be happy for other countries to agree to change the terms of the UK’s membership if that makes it more likely that the UK will stay within the EU."
Or
"If the UK does not like the terms of EU membership it should leave – there is no need for other countries to agree to change its terms of membership."
Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania were happy for the UK's membership to be changed if it would keep it in the EU.
However Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden said Britain should just leave if it did not like the current situation.