A majority of French voters want EU referendum
More than half of French voters, 53%, want France to hold its own referendum on membership of the EU, according to research undertaken by the University of Edinburgh and a German think tank, dpart. In what some will see as a shocking series of results, 49% of Swedish voters said the same for their country, 47% of Spanish voters, and 45% of German voters. The French enthusiasm for leaving the EU was not limited to their own country, with 44% saying Britain ought to vote to leave the union.

EU referendum: More than half of French voters want their own In/Out vote, with voters in Sweden, Spain and Germany all calling for referendums

More than half of French voters want their own referendum on European Union membership – and nearly just as many think Britain should leave the European Union – according to new research from the University of Edinburgh and dpart, a German think tank.

Researchers polled more than 8,000 voters across six countries – France, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Poland and Ireland – and found that 53 per cent of French voters wanted France to hold its own In/Out vote.

Forty-nine per cent of Swedish voters said the same for their country, as did 47 per cent of Spanish voters and 45 per cent of German voters.

Voters in Poland and Ireland were less likely to want a referendum, with 39 per cent and 38 per cent calling for their own vote, respectively.

The French were also the most-likely to support a so-called Brexit, with 44 per cent of voters saying Britain should leave the European Union.

Just one-third of Swedish voters agreed with the statement, while it had even less support from German, Irish and Polish voters (27, 21 and 20 per cent, respectively).

Fewer than one in five Spanish voters said the UK should leave the EU.