New poll gives Brexit a shot in the arm

On New Years’ Eve former Labour minister Andrew Adonis grandly declared on Twitter: ‘The campaign for Britain to rejoin Europe starts at midnight.’ Since then it’s not exactly been going swimmingly. The last nine weeks have seen a stark contrast between vaccine procurement and rollout in Brussels and in Britain, replete with swipes at the Oxford jab, sneers at the UK’s vaccine nationalism and even the spectre an Irish hard border in January.

Adonis will join other Remainer panjandrums like Michael Heseltine and Caroline Lucas this weekend to discuss precisely these issues at the European Movement conference, whose programme incidentally makes no mention of the word ‘vaccine.’ Mr S thought it would be helpful to such ardent Europhiles to see how views on rejoining the trade bloc after months of simmering tension. A new poll for The Spectator by Redfield and Wilton — with a sample size of 1,500 — saw the public quizzed on Wednesday on attitudes towards Brussels since the beginning of the recent squabbles over vaccine procurement.