A new poll has revealed that two-in-three Britons think Brexit helped the UK’s vaccine rollout and that support for leaving the EU has risen in the wake of a row over vaccines.
Stefan Boscia CITY AMMonday 12 April 2021 12:43 pm
A poll by JL Partners/Bloomberg today showed 67 per cent of Britons thought the EU had acted in a “hostile” way during the vaccines dispute, while only 13 per cent said the bloc acted like an “ally and a friend”.
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Sixty-two per cent of respondents said Brexit had helped the UK’s vaccine rollout as it was not attached to the EU’s procurement process.
The poll also revealed that almost one-in-five people who voted remain in the 2016 referendum would now vote to leave due to the EU’s actions.
It comes after the EU has levelled a number of threats to block shipments of vaccines to the UK this year, with many pundits accusing the bloc’s leaders of vaccine nationalism.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen first made the threat in January as the bloc’s vaccine rollout faced early supply problems.
It led to a quickly reversed decision by the EU to breach the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, which was met by outrage across the globe.
Just last month, the EU once again threatened to block vaccines as it was angry that AstraZeneca/Oxford University jabs being produced in the Netherlands were due to be sent to the UK.
EU leaders also talked down the UK-founded AstraZeneca vaccine over the past few months, with French President Emmanuel Macron falsely saying it was “quasi-ineffective” in over 65s.
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Vaccine rollouts have been slow across the continent, with countries like France, Germany and Spain only administering doses to around 20 per cent of their populations so far.
The UK, meanwhile, has given at least one jab to about 55 per cent of its population.
https://www.cityam.com/support-for-brexit-soars-after-uk-eu-vaccines-war-says-new-poll/
