Most British thinks violence likely if Brexit happens; Leavers think price worth paying

[muriel_volestrangler]

Key findings from the 2019 Future of England Survey, conducted by YouGov, show:

Most Leave voters across all three countries think violence towards MPs is a ‘price worth paying’ for Brexit - 71% in England, 60% in Scotland and 70% in Wales. The majority of Remain voters across all three countries think violence towards MPs is a ‘price worth paying’ to Remain - 58% in England, 53% in Scotland and 56% in Wales.

A majority of Remain voters across all three countries think protests in which members of the public are badly injured are a ‘price worth paying’ to stop Brexit and remain in the EU - 57% in England, 56% in Scotland and 57% in Wales. Even larger majorities of Leave voters in all three countries think protests in which members of the public are badly injured are a ‘price worth paying’ to achieve Brexit - 69% in England, 62% in Scotland and 70% in Wales.

Majorities in England, Scotland and Wales think that violence towards MPs and violent protests in which people are badly injured is ‘likely to occur’ if Brexit takes place.

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/1709008-future-of-england-survey-reveals-public-attitudes-towards-brexit-and-the-union

And in the English poll (I haven't checked the others):

80% of Leavers think the unravelling of the Northern Ireland peace process would be worth it for "taking back control" (74% say that's not likely though - though 77% of Remainers think it is)
72% of Remainers see the destruction of the UK farming industry as a risk worth taking (88% say not likely to happen)

[OnDoutside]

1. The Brexiters already murdered Jo Cox MP, so that Rubicon has

already been crossed.

[Matilda]

2. This is sounding awfully like "Damned if you do, damned if you don't"

Even experts on news and talk shows are getting up and giving opinions that all contradict one another, and all with equal certainty.

There's a feeling that there's something dark at work, going beyond whether to leave or stay. So much hatred.

.

[Denzil_DC]

3. This was a weirdly framed poll.

The key questions include the option of voting for negative outcomes no matter what happens - e.g. small percentages apparently want to be poorer whether Brexit goes ahead or not!

I was wondering how I'd respond if I'd been polled. I'm generally in the camp of not letting those who threaten violence (most often violence by amorphous others) unless they get a certain political outcome have their way. Maybe that thinking was behind some of the responses.

[LeftishBrit]

4. There may well have been confusion about the questions

As Denzil says, some of the responses may have been in the spirit of 'don't give in to terrorist threats' rather than 'terrorism is OK if it helps my cause'.

Also the framing of the Remain campaign as 'Project Fear', and the rather inept way that the campaign was handled in the first place, may have led to a tendency for Leave voters in particular to reject warnings of consequences as 'threats' that should be disregarded. Leave groups treating the Brexit process as akin to WW2, and Boris' high-flown propaganda about 'dying in a ditch', etc. may have had a similar effect on Remainers.

But I do think there has been a tendency in recent years for people to have an extreme hostility to MPs and think they deserve any abuse they get, especially if they disagree on some issue. People have always felt that way about 'the government' (not without cause, especially this government!); but the strong hatred for MPs seems to be of more recent origin. It may stem from the expenses scandal; or it may be just that social media has given individual MPs more or a 'presence'. Not saying that all MPs are perfect, far from in in fact!, but I fear that it is degenerating into a hostility to the very idea of parliamentary democracy. Which, whatever its faults, is better than either an all-powerful executive (i.e. dictatorship - and it's still dictatorship even if the dictator was elected) or the tribalist, media-driven mob-spirit of 'direct democracy'.