A generation of young Britons who were locked out of the 2016 EU referendum because of their age now believe that [Brexit](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/eu-referendum) has failed, with a majority demanding a fresh vote to rejoin the EU, exclusive polling shows.
The More in Common study, which surveyed 440 young people across Britain, shows that 50% of gen Z Britons categorise Brexit as a failure. In contrast, only 16% view the project as a success, while 34% remain undecided.
“And while young Britons mostly support rejoining in principle, focus group conversations with gen Z voters suggest they’re hesitant about a return to the endless Brexit debates they remember from their youth, which risks distracting from the issues they care most about – the cost of living, affordable housing, jobs and climate change.”
Hostility toward the UK’s exit from the EU is strongest among the youngest adults. Among those aged 18 to 21 – who were children aged six to nine in 2016 – 53% declare Brexit a failure, while only 12% see it as a success. This sentiment softens slightly among older gen Zers aged 25 to 28, though the outlook remains negative at 48% failure to 20% success.
While there is a consensus that the current state of affairs is not working, young Britons are divided on whether the project was flawed conceptually or butchered by the political class. About 37% believe Brexit could have worked well but was “ruined by politicians” who handled it badly, while 29% argue that the project was “never going to work” from the very beginning. Only 11% maintain that Brexit has worked well so far, and 23% expressed no opinion.
The polling arrives amid a broader national conversation regarding the demographic transformation of the UK electorate. The narrow 2016 referendum result – won by Leave with 51.9% to Remain’s 48.1% – was heavily carried by older generations.
However, time has altered the voter rolls significantly. The pollster Peter Kellner has argued that the pro-Brexit majority in 2016 has gone. [Writing on Substack](https://kellnerp.substack.com/p/the-majority-opposed-to-brexit-has), he noted that more than 6 million Britons have died since the 2016 referendum, and argued that because older demographics voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU – 64% of those over 65 voted to leave – mortality has disproportionately affected the leave coalition.
sackofshit on
Just mental that there’s enough of an audience for dozens of these articles every week.
[deleted] on
[deleted]
Optimal-Leather341 on
Really… The petition to rejoin this year only brought in 100,000 signatures…
e0928698-2946-4c55-8 on
You’d think the way the left think they have it in the bag with ‘the young vote’ the number would be more like 4/5 or even 5/5…
GiveMoreMoney on
Source “The Guardian”… Labour’s propaganda machine. Yep very reliable news.
BigMarth24 on
As gen z and as someone who wasn’t old enough to vote in Brexit and would have voted remain, I am so fucking tired of hearing about it. Can we not just get on with it instead of the constant articles about it?
Edit: This exact discussion and comments is why I want to move on. Majority of people want closer ties with the EU, which I agree and want that to happen to. No one seems to agree on whether to rejoin the EU or not and remain/leave is still a controversial topic.
I would like to focus on strengthening ties with the EU and even non member EU states and getting ourselves back into a stronger position because as it stands the remain/leave argument just feels like it’s at a stalemate. People want to rejoin but not if it means losing our pre Brexit deal. European citizens support us rejoining but not if it means we get our pre Brexit deal. I don’t see how we effectively move forward if we focus on remain/leave rather than how we fix those ties with the EU and build that trust again.
Environmental-Owl-12 on
Five in five gen Z Britons would like to be given £1,000,000 and a free house by the Government, poll finds.
Junior_Syrup_1036 on
3 out of 5 gen z ers also spend most of their lives watching some cunt lip sync on tiktok or 30 second brainrot shorts on YouTube so …. ?
StrangeFilmNegatives on
So much rejoin slop recently. We get it you want to be in the EU, but nobody has the want or interest in going through some stupid EU integration. We can do just fine running our own country and rejoining would only further entrench our issues especially with the additional caveats gone for the UK.
Happy-Ad8755 on
I also want to rejoin so badly, but I think some people are naive and think it’s going to solve all of the uk issues. It isn’t and will rid us of some but spawn more.
The EU is in a very similar boat to us and struggling with stagnation, debt and decreasing quality of life.
I 100% support a referendum again soon
Maskedmarxist on
We need more public participation. More citizens assemblies like question time, more frequently.
Abyssal_Station on
To be fair the majority of the UK population didn’t vote for brexit, and out of those who did vote, a good portion have passed from old age, and another portion only decided to look up what brexit was after they voted for it…so not really surprising that people would like to go back
Difficult_Split_8295 on
It doesn’t really matter as you need all 27 to agree to us rejoining and there are more than a few who don’t want us back. Add to that we have to start from scratch and renegotiate everything by which time Reform are in and stopping it. Pointless talking about things that are never happening! We need to look forward instead of endlessly looking back at all the mistakes all parties made! It’s a mistake we can’t now undo.
deadblankspacehole on
This is not popular and the public don’t want it. If there was another referendum leave would win with more.
Don’t ask me how I know, just believe me.
Unrulygam3r on
Rejoining would be shit now because we wouldn’t even get the benefits we had in the past. We threw away a good thing for no reason. We’re like an ex who realised they fucked up years later and trying to get back with their partner who has a new life.
Darkgreenbirdofprey on
That isn’t exactly a big number. I’d have thought it would be closer to 90%.
JHatter on
God the push for re-joining the EU has been heavy in the news lately huh, heavy enough that it looks forced. Ironic considering we’re still above multiple EU countries for economy – we’ve just got revoltingly corrupt governments
Doesn’t matter. No party wants to rejoin the EU anyway.
Capable-Campaign3881 on
I agree with having a new referendum to confirm public opinion on this subject as I’ve seen lots of different polls been conducted but does the data from these polls actually match up with most of what the electorate think ?
Trenbolobaby on
Death, taxes and CoffeeWalnut08’s missus asking him if he’ll give her some attention instead of crying on Reddit about Brexit for the 731st day in a row.
originalusername8704 on
3/5 of young people doesn’t seem like enough to make it worthwhile having another vote. For me, a part needs elected at a GE with a manifesto including another vote, to possibly make it worthwhile considering another vote. What would be the point in another out vote, or a narrow and devisive 52:48 vote in favour of rejoin. I think we need a 66% majority to rejoin now because otherwise the EU will just assume we’ll have another vote in 10-15 years time to leave.
Dislexicpotato on
The general public voted for it, get over it.
You don’t keep redoing a vote until you get the result you want.
Dramatic_Tomorrow_25 on
Either do the damn vote or don’t. I am sick and tired of analysis.
Flat_Revolution5130 on
The EU is a sinking ship and the consequence of rejoining would be that we have to switch to the Euro. But Gen Z exist in there own little bubble.
shadowst17 on
I would love another vote but I think we need stability in this country first. We need to squash this growing right wing cancer or will just end up back out of the EU and even more isolated than we currently are.
WillWatsof on
Honestly what we’d need to do is have our politicians negotiate a potential rejoining, and then put THAT deal to a public vote.
35kmfilm on
It wouldn’t be worth their time publishing it it wasn’t in the zietgiest. Otherwise the article would get 0 clicks, press is strict about this because clicks = cash
MrPuddington2 on
I find it strange how incredibly weak any pro-EU tendencies are. 3 in 5 is hardly a strong majority, and this is the most favorable age group.
Brexit is an absolute shitshow from start to finish, but nobody seems to have changed their mind at all. We are still stuck with a very narrow majority one way or the other, and these things should not be decided on a thin majority.
And I am not saying we should not rejoin: we absolutely should. But we should do so on a strong, durable, enthusiastic, informed majority. Currently, that does not seem to be available.
SwimmerOld6155 on
just call it. we’ll end up back in the EU within 10 years provided reform doesn’t get in, we should just get on with it
carlcarlington2 on
I find the idea of the uk leaving / rejoining the eu every 5 years for decades to come hilarious
Odd-Confusion4407 on
Ironically rejoining the EU could lead to a lot of political healing on the UK.
My Uncle owns three pubs and on occasion I cover staff shortages.
One has been a Labour pub since he bought it and one has recently become a home away from home for Restore Britain supporters.
Despite many obvious differences in political beliefs I was surprised to find there opinions on rejoining the EU and of those who voted leave were nearly identical.
I won’t argue that the opinions of some on the Restore side might be shaped by the drifting to the Right that seems to be happening in Europe but for many, given the Language they use to describe those who voted to Leave, there opinions seem to go back to the original Vote.
Deepmidwinter2025 on
Three in five Gen Z also never bother to vote in general elections.
Odd_Individual_2297 on
Are we just having these made up polls every week now?
It’s over. Move on.
Ok_Broccoli_7917 on
It infuriates me that people are so influenced by the media rather than reading the treaty’s and data.
The UK is doing better than most EU countries, this is a fact.
36 Comments
A generation of young Britons who were locked out of the 2016 EU referendum because of their age now believe that [Brexit](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/eu-referendum) has failed, with a majority demanding a fresh vote to rejoin the EU, exclusive polling shows.
Gen Z Britons show deep dissatisfaction with the UK’s departure from the EU, according to new polling of 18- to 28-year-olds conducted by the thinktank More in Common and shared with the Guardian.[](https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jun/23/uk-eu-brexit-visegrad-four-czech-republic-hungary-poland-slovakia-latest-news-updates)The data reveals that 60% of this cohort would vote to rejoin the bloc if given the opportunity, compared with 9% who would vote to stay out.
The More in Common study, which surveyed 440 young people across Britain, shows that 50% of gen Z Britons categorise Brexit as a failure. In contrast, only 16% view the project as a success, while 34% remain undecided.
“And while young Britons mostly support rejoining in principle, focus group conversations with gen Z voters suggest they’re hesitant about a return to the endless Brexit debates they remember from their youth, which risks distracting from the issues they care most about – the cost of living, affordable housing, jobs and climate change.”
Hostility toward the UK’s exit from the EU is strongest among the youngest adults. Among those aged 18 to 21 – who were children aged six to nine in 2016 – 53% declare Brexit a failure, while only 12% see it as a success. This sentiment softens slightly among older gen Zers aged 25 to 28, though the outlook remains negative at 48% failure to 20% success.
While there is a consensus that the current state of affairs is not working, young Britons are divided on whether the project was flawed conceptually or butchered by the political class. About 37% believe Brexit could have worked well but was “ruined by politicians” who handled it badly, while 29% argue that the project was “never going to work” from the very beginning. Only 11% maintain that Brexit has worked well so far, and 23% expressed no opinion.
The polling arrives amid a broader national conversation regarding the demographic transformation of the UK electorate. The narrow 2016 referendum result – won by Leave with 51.9% to Remain’s 48.1% – was heavily carried by older generations.
However, time has altered the voter rolls significantly. The pollster Peter Kellner has argued that the pro-Brexit majority in 2016 has gone. [Writing on Substack](https://kellnerp.substack.com/p/the-majority-opposed-to-brexit-has), he noted that more than 6 million Britons have died since the 2016 referendum, and argued that because older demographics voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU – 64% of those over 65 voted to leave – mortality has disproportionately affected the leave coalition.
Just mental that there’s enough of an audience for dozens of these articles every week.
[deleted]
Really… The petition to rejoin this year only brought in 100,000 signatures…
You’d think the way the left think they have it in the bag with ‘the young vote’ the number would be more like 4/5 or even 5/5…
Source “The Guardian”… Labour’s propaganda machine. Yep very reliable news.
As gen z and as someone who wasn’t old enough to vote in Brexit and would have voted remain, I am so fucking tired of hearing about it. Can we not just get on with it instead of the constant articles about it?
Edit: This exact discussion and comments is why I want to move on. Majority of people want closer ties with the EU, which I agree and want that to happen to. No one seems to agree on whether to rejoin the EU or not and remain/leave is still a controversial topic.
I would like to focus on strengthening ties with the EU and even non member EU states and getting ourselves back into a stronger position because as it stands the remain/leave argument just feels like it’s at a stalemate. People want to rejoin but not if it means losing our pre Brexit deal. European citizens support us rejoining but not if it means we get our pre Brexit deal. I don’t see how we effectively move forward if we focus on remain/leave rather than how we fix those ties with the EU and build that trust again.
Five in five gen Z Britons would like to be given £1,000,000 and a free house by the Government, poll finds.
3 out of 5 gen z ers also spend most of their lives watching some cunt lip sync on tiktok or 30 second brainrot shorts on YouTube so …. ?
So much rejoin slop recently. We get it you want to be in the EU, but nobody has the want or interest in going through some stupid EU integration. We can do just fine running our own country and rejoining would only further entrench our issues especially with the additional caveats gone for the UK.
I also want to rejoin so badly, but I think some people are naive and think it’s going to solve all of the uk issues. It isn’t and will rid us of some but spawn more.
The EU is in a very similar boat to us and struggling with stagnation, debt and decreasing quality of life.
I 100% support a referendum again soon
We need more public participation. More citizens assemblies like question time, more frequently.
To be fair the majority of the UK population didn’t vote for brexit, and out of those who did vote, a good portion have passed from old age, and another portion only decided to look up what brexit was after they voted for it…so not really surprising that people would like to go back
It doesn’t really matter as you need all 27 to agree to us rejoining and there are more than a few who don’t want us back. Add to that we have to start from scratch and renegotiate everything by which time Reform are in and stopping it. Pointless talking about things that are never happening! We need to look forward instead of endlessly looking back at all the mistakes all parties made! It’s a mistake we can’t now undo.
This is not popular and the public don’t want it. If there was another referendum leave would win with more.
Don’t ask me how I know, just believe me.
Rejoining would be shit now because we wouldn’t even get the benefits we had in the past. We threw away a good thing for no reason. We’re like an ex who realised they fucked up years later and trying to get back with their partner who has a new life.
That isn’t exactly a big number. I’d have thought it would be closer to 90%.
God the push for re-joining the EU has been heavy in the news lately huh, heavy enough that it looks forced. Ironic considering we’re still above multiple EU countries for economy – we’ve just got revoltingly corrupt governments
https://www.imd.org/centers/wcc/world-competitiveness-center/rankings/world-competitiveness-ranking/rankings/wcr-rankings/#_tab_Rank
https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/
I wasn’t born when we joined the EU.
See how that logic works?
Doesn’t matter. No party wants to rejoin the EU anyway.
I agree with having a new referendum to confirm public opinion on this subject as I’ve seen lots of different polls been conducted but does the data from these polls actually match up with most of what the electorate think ?
Death, taxes and CoffeeWalnut08’s missus asking him if he’ll give her some attention instead of crying on Reddit about Brexit for the 731st day in a row.
3/5 of young people doesn’t seem like enough to make it worthwhile having another vote. For me, a part needs elected at a GE with a manifesto including another vote, to possibly make it worthwhile considering another vote. What would be the point in another out vote, or a narrow and devisive 52:48 vote in favour of rejoin. I think we need a 66% majority to rejoin now because otherwise the EU will just assume we’ll have another vote in 10-15 years time to leave.
The general public voted for it, get over it.
You don’t keep redoing a vote until you get the result you want.
Either do the damn vote or don’t. I am sick and tired of analysis.
The EU is a sinking ship and the consequence of rejoining would be that we have to switch to the Euro. But Gen Z exist in there own little bubble.
I would love another vote but I think we need stability in this country first. We need to squash this growing right wing cancer or will just end up back out of the EU and even more isolated than we currently are.
Honestly what we’d need to do is have our politicians negotiate a potential rejoining, and then put THAT deal to a public vote.
It wouldn’t be worth their time publishing it it wasn’t in the zietgiest. Otherwise the article would get 0 clicks, press is strict about this because clicks = cash
I find it strange how incredibly weak any pro-EU tendencies are. 3 in 5 is hardly a strong majority, and this is the most favorable age group.
Brexit is an absolute shitshow from start to finish, but nobody seems to have changed their mind at all. We are still stuck with a very narrow majority one way or the other, and these things should not be decided on a thin majority.
And I am not saying we should not rejoin: we absolutely should. But we should do so on a strong, durable, enthusiastic, informed majority. Currently, that does not seem to be available.
just call it. we’ll end up back in the EU within 10 years provided reform doesn’t get in, we should just get on with it
I find the idea of the uk leaving / rejoining the eu every 5 years for decades to come hilarious
Ironically rejoining the EU could lead to a lot of political healing on the UK.
My Uncle owns three pubs and on occasion I cover staff shortages.
One has been a Labour pub since he bought it and one has recently become a home away from home for Restore Britain supporters.
Despite many obvious differences in political beliefs I was surprised to find there opinions on rejoining the EU and of those who voted leave were nearly identical.
I won’t argue that the opinions of some on the Restore side might be shaped by the drifting to the Right that seems to be happening in Europe but for many, given the Language they use to describe those who voted to Leave, there opinions seem to go back to the original Vote.
Three in five Gen Z also never bother to vote in general elections.
Are we just having these made up polls every week now?
It’s over. Move on.
It infuriates me that people are so influenced by the media rather than reading the treaty’s and data.
The UK is doing better than most EU countries, this is a fact.