Even Britain’s youngsters have a cynical view of the EU

By THE DATA TEAM

FEW variables predict the British public’s views on Europe better than age. In the Brexit referendum last year, a mere 36% of 18- to 24-year-olds voted to leave the European Union, compared with 82% of those over 55. Eurosceptics caricature British youth as unthinking champions of the pan-European ideal, who blindly support every new regulation that comes out of Brussels. However, a new survey conducted by YouGov, a pollster, on behalf of the TUI Foundation, a non-profit organisation, provides a sharply different perspective. When compared with similarly-aged respondents on the mainland, British youngsters look far more like their Brexit-backing elders than like globalist cosmopolitans.

YouGov asked 16- to 26-year-olds in seven countries (Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain) a series of questions regarding their views of Europe. Like other young Europeans, Britons do favour remaining in the EU. Nonetheless, only 17% of young Britons see the EU as an opportunity to understand other cultures, the lowest share of any country polled. In contrast, 35% said they viewed it as a means of bolstering their own country’s strength on the world stage. That rate was 2.5 times higher than the average for the survey as a whole.