A majority of the British public support closer ties with the European Union (EU), including on food and drink rules, defence and security and a youth mobility visa scheme.
Three quarters (75%) of Brits backed the UK agreeing to a defence and security pact with the EU, according to polling by YouGov for Best for Britain carried out in September 2025, with just one in ten (11%) opposed.
While around seven in ten (72%) were in favour of the UK agreeing to a youth mobility visa scheme with the EU, allowing 18-to-30-year-olds to travel, work and study in both the UK and EU, the pollsters found. Only 15% said they were against the idea.
On the question of the UK following the same rules and regulations for food and drink products being applied in the UK as in the EU, some six in ten (62%) backed the idea. Only around a quarter (23%) of respondents were opposed.
Some 58% were supportive of the UK following the same environmental rules as the EU, with just a quarter (25%) opposing the idea.
Asked whether they would support the UK agreeing to follow the same rules and regulations as the EU in general, roughly half (52%) were in favour - and around a third (32%) against.
The findings were released amid the UK government’s ongoing reset with the EU, with progress being made on a youth experience scheme and a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement.
Tom Brufatto, Executive Director of Policy and Research, at Best for Britain, said:
“From reducing the cost of the supermarket shop to shoring up our defence and security, voters overwhelmingly - and rightly - recognise the vital benefits of closer alignment with Europe.
“Best for Britain’s polling has repeatedly shown the public are in favour of strengthening Britain’s ties with our closest partners in Europe, and these findings are yet more evidence of that.”