Majority of Indian-origin voters against ‘Brexit’: Study

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LONDON: Indian-origin voters are largely in favour of Britain remaining in the European Union (EU), with a significant chunk still undecided ahead of the June 23 referendum, which has been described as a knife-edge vote.

According to the British Election Survey (BES) released this week, 51.7 per cent of Indian-origin voters were against Brexit, compared to 27.74 per cent in favour of leaving the 28-member economic bloc.

However, there is a significant percentage (16.85 per cent) of those who “Don’t Know”, who are likely to hold the key in the referendum, described as a knife-edge vote so far.

BES surveyed a large sample of 22,000 voters, which found that ‘Remain’ has a narrow lead of 43 per cent as against 40.5 per cent in favour of ‘Leave’.

“The new data indicates that ethnic minority voters could hold the balance of power. While white voters are split evenly, all ethnic minority groups are far more likely to back Remain. However, the data also suggests that turnout could be 20 to 25 per cent lower among ethnic minority voters,” the report found.

The figures are similar across the board among South Asians, with Pakistani-origin voters backing remain 56 to 26 per cent and Bangladeshis 42 to 17.

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