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The majority of the British public still want to have their say on the proposed European constitution, despite the overwhelming majority saying they would vote against it. The survey, conducted after the French referendum, shows that just 22% of the public say they would currently vote "yes" to "approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the European constitution", with 56% saying they would vote "no" and 22% saying they do not vote. When the "don't knows" are excluded, the result would mean a no vote by a margin of 72% to 28%.
The latest MORI/Citigroup survey suggests support for the EU Constitution treaty is low in Great Britain. British views on the new EU Constitution still could be affected by persuasive arguments that it would be either good or bad for the country.
MORI's work for the BBC shows that - in a majority of cases - knowledge and understanding of the EU is very low. This severely limits people's ability to make a judgement on the impartiality of the BBC's coverage. Lack of understanding tends to translate into low interest and limited consumption. This in turn severely limits the majority's ability to compare the relative qualities of the BBC's EU coverage across its three platforms (television, radio and online), or to judge the BBC's coverage against that of other broadcasters.
MORI's latest research for The Institute for Citizenship's A Vision of Europe project shows that the British public have low awareness of, low knowledge about, and low trust in, the institutions of the European Union. Furthermore, they do not feel they have enough information to make a considered vote in the referendum on the European Constitution. Few people trust any institution to represent the views of ordinary people, and many do not know the name of any of their MEPs.
MORI's latest research on behalf of The Foreign Policy Centre shows that the majority of the public have still to make up their minds or say they can be persuaded about how they would vote in a referendum on the European Constitution. Nevertheless, at this point in time it seems as though the "no" campaign have established an early lead in the campaign with exactly half the public saying they are against Britain adopting the Constitution. This includes over a quarter (27%) who say they are strongly against. For the "yes" campaign, we find just short of a third of the public who say they are either generally (23%) or strongly (8%) in favour of Britain adopting the Constitution.
The Chancellor will refresh his verdict on the economic case for EMU entry in the Budget. We expect him again to rule out EMU entry, although doubtless with some sugar-coated language about gradual convergence.
