David Cameron will hope to persuade EU leaders of the urgent need for change this week after two polls suggested the referendum vote on Britain leaving the EU is on a knife-edge.
An ICM poll for the Vote Leave campaign found 50% of voters were in favour of leaving, if undecideds were excluded. Overall, the result was that 41% wanted to leave while 42% wanted to stay, and the rest did not know.
The poll, published in the Daily Telegraph, found the numbers were different if Cameron won no concessions on freedom of movement and curbing migration. In that case, 45% would vote for “Brexit” and 40% would back staying in the EU – or 53% to leave and 47% to remain excluding undecideds.
A separate poll by Survation in the Express found 42% would vote to leave compared with 40% who would vote to stay.
Although politicians are more wary of polling after it failed to predict the election result, the numbers are still likely to worry the campaign to stay in the EU, which has been consistently ahead.
However, the figures will also give Cameron new ammunition to warn EU leaders that British people are seriously considering the prospect of leaving if he is not allowed some flexibility to curb immigration.
