According to the latest poll, released Wednesday, on the British referendum on European Union membership, 45 percent of Britons are in favor of remaining in the EU, while 38 percent are in favor of leaving. While the “remain” camp maintains a significant lead, support for the so-called Brexit is growing, with the “leave” campaign gaining 2 percent in the past month.
In Scotland, the story is different. According to the same poll, over 56 percent of Scots want to remain in the EU. Pro-EU sentiment in Scotland has been consistent over the past eight months, with some polls putting support for the “remain” campaign as high as 70 percent.
While popular opinion among Britons overall still leans toward remaining in the EU, recent events have many observers considering that the Brexit could become a reality. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s connections to the Panama Papers have weakened his credibility and, in turn, the weight of his endorsement of EU membership. Combined with the recent Dutch vote to reject an EU association agreement with Ukraine and the union’s inability to effectively address the ongoing migrant and refugee crisis, public perception of the EU isn’t very favorable at the moment. And as always, the risk of yet another EU referendum being used to punish incumbents remains a real possibility.