The prospect of Boris Johnson forcing through a no-deal Brexit appears to have support from the public, with a poll indicating a large proportion want to leave the EU by any means necessary.
A ComRes poll for The Telegraph found 44% of the public agree that the prime minister “needs to deliver Brexit by any means, including suspending parliament if necessary, in order to prevent MPs from stopping it”, while 37% disagreed and 19% did not know.
The finding was billed as 54% supporting the move after stripping out the ‘don’t knows’. The survey of 2,011 British adults is available here.
The PM has refused to rule out a move to prorogue - or suspend - parliament in the weeks before October 31 to stop politicians passing laws to stop Britain leaving the EU without a deal.
The ComRes findings contrast to a YouGov poll in June that found by 47% to 24% British people oppose proroguing parliament in order to force through a no-deal Brexit.
However, ComRes also found 51% of respondents agree that “Brexit should be halted if problems over the Northern Ireland border threaten to split the Union” (or 39% agree, 37% disagree and 25% don’t know).
The survey also indicated the Conservatives had extended their lead over Labour.
According to the figures, 88% of respondents feel parliament is “out of touch” with the British public, and that 89% feel MPs “ignore the wishes of voters and push their own agendas” on Brexit.
As well as this, the poll found 77% of respondents agree the Queen should “remain above politics and refuse to get involved in Brexit”.
Andrew Hawkins, chairman of ComRes, said: “With the largest Tory lead over Labour from ComRes this year, this poll is confirmation that the Boris Bounce is real and shows no sign of disappearing despite the Parliamentary break.
“Boris’s support has been boosted by him outperforming expectations, including among a third of Labour and Lib Dem voters.
“It will not be lost on Jeremy Corbyn as he contemplates attempting to call a vote of no confidence that Boris could win an election with barely a third of the vote because support is so fragmented across all the parties.
“If Boris can deliver Brexit, without too much collateral damage to the economy, he stands to win big.
“He is within touching distance of an overall majority even without the support of the one in five 2017 Tory voters who are still lending their support to the Brexit Party.
“If he can woo them back by delivering on his promise to leave the EU, apparently even if it means suspending Parliament, then he could well be on track to win a working majority”.