Attitudes to Europe in Great Britain
How would you vote if there were a General Election tomorrow? (If undecided or refused at Q1) Which party are you most inclined to support?
- MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 603 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain.
- Fieldwork was conducted face-to-face on 13-14 November 1997.
- Data were weighted to match the profile of the population.
- An asterisk (*) denotes a figure between zero and 0.5%.
- Base: All respondents, unless stated.
- Research study conducted for The Sun 13-14 November 1997
Q1 How would you vote if there were a General Election tomorrow? (If undecided or refused at Q1) Q2 Which party are you most inclined to support?
| Conservative |  30% |
| Labour |  56% |
| Liberal Democrats |  11% |
| Scot / Welsh Nationalist |  1% |
| Green Party |  1% |
| Referendum Party |  *% |
| Other |  1% |
| Would not vote | 9% |
| Undecided | 5% |
| Refused | 3% |
Q3 If there were a referendum tomorrow on whether Britain should stay in or get out of the European Union (Common Market), how would you vote?
| All expressing opinion | ||
| % | % | |
| Stay in | 49 | 58 |
| Get out | 35 | 42 |
| Don't know | 16 | - |
Q4 On balance, do you support or oppose Britain participating in each of the following?
| Single European Currency | United States of Europe with Fed Govt | |
| % | % | |
| Support | 39 | 19 |
| Oppose | 50 | 67 |
| Don't know | 11 | 14 |
Q5 Do you think that we should go into a single European currency?
| % | |
| Agree to join the single currency in principle and join as soon as we can | 22 |
| Wait to see whether the single currency works in good and bad times before making a decision | 54 |
| Never join a single currency | 20 |
Q6 If Britain were to join a single European currency, do you think that it would be possibe to withdraw at some point in the future, or do you think that we would have to remain in a single European currency for ever?
| % | |
| Possible to withdraw | 22 |
| Have to remain in for ever | 65 |
| Don't know | 13 |
Q7 Do you think the government has or has not given the public enough information to make up their minds about joining a single currency?
| % | |
| Yes, enough information | 10% |
| No, not enough information | 87% |
| Don't know | 3% |
Q8 I am now gong to read out several things that some people have said might happen as a result of Britain joining a single European currency. For each one, I would like you to tell me, from what you know or have heard, how likely or unlikely you think it would be to happen if Britain were to join a single European currency?
| Likely | Unlikely | Net | |
| % | % | ± | |
| Higher unemployment in Britain | 44 | 42 | +2 |
| Lower interest rates in Britain | 24 | 59 | -35 |
| Transfer of Britain's gold reserves to a European Central Bank based in Germany | 39 | 42 | -3 |
| Transfer of control over the setting of tax rates in Britain to European Union politicians based in Brussels | 60 | 31 | +29 |
| Transfer of control over the setting of interest rates in Britain to a European Central Bank | 68 | 23 | +45 |
| Transfer of control over government spending in Britain to a European Central Bank | 49 | 41 | +8 |
| Use of taxes raised in Britain and other European Union states to reduce unemployment in other member countries | 63 | 28 | +35 |
Q9 Now I am gong to read the list again and, regardless of whether you think it is likely to happen, I would like you to tell me, in each case whether you think it would be a price worth paying for the benefits of joining a single currency or would it not?
| Price worth paying | Not worth paying | Don't know | |
| % | % | ± | |
| Higher unemployment in Britain | 10 | 85 | 5 |
| Lower interest rates in Britain | 59 | 35 | 6 |
| Transfer of Britain's gold reserves to a European Central Bank based in Germany | 16 | 76 | 8 |
| Transfer of control over the setting of tax rates in Britain to European Union politicians based in Bussels | 22 | 72 | 6 |
| Transfer of control over the setting of interest rates in Britain to a European Central Bank | 27 | 63 | 10 |
| Transfer of control over goveernment spending in Britain to a European Central Bank | 17 | 77 | 6 |
| Use of taxes raised in Britain and other European Union states to reduce unemployment in other member countries | 37 | 56 | 7 |
Technical details
MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 603 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted face-to-face on 13-14 November 1997. Data were weighted to match the profile of the population. All figures are in percentages. Where percentages do not sum to 100, this may be due to multiple responses, the exclusion of don't knows or computer rounding. An asterisk (*) denotes a figure between zero and 0.5%.
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