Poll: Half of Leave voters want Boris Johnson to break the law over Brexit

More than half of Leave voters in the 2016 referendum would support Boris Johnson if he broke the law to ensure the UK leaves the EU by October 31, a poll has suggested.

Boris Johnson is threatening to disobey the terms and push ahead with his plan to keep no-deal on the table

The Prime Minister is reportedly setting himself up for an explosive Supreme Court battle over a no-deal Brexit.

A law drafted by Opposition figures demanding the Brexit deadline is extended to January 2020 to avoid Britain leaving the European Union without a deal is expected to receive Royal Assent this week.

But the Prime Minister is threatening to disobey the terms and push ahead with his plan to keep no-deal on the table when he meets fellow leaders at the European Council summit on October 17.

A YouGov survey of 1640 adults from across the UK found that 52% of Leave voters think the Prime Minister should break the law by refusing to ask the EU for a Brexit deadline extension.

Only 28% put the law before the Brexit deadline, while the remaining 21% said they didn’t know what he should do.

Among the public as a whole the two sides are almost reversed, with 50% of Britons preferring Johnson to abide by the law compared to 28% who would want him to break it.

Half (50%) of those who voted for the Conservative party in 2017 would want the Tory leader to flout the law and refuse to ask the EU for a Brexit deadline extension – only a third (34%) see it as more important for the leader of the nation to operate within the law.

By contrast, 77% of Remain voters, 76% of Lib Dem voters and 69% of Labour voters all say that Johnson should refrain from breaking the law on this matter.