Polling conducted in the run-up to Christmas reveals support for staying in the European Union has collapsed to just 39 per cent.

Fieldwork carried out by YouGov for its regular EuroTrack survey found that, among a weighted sample of 1,692 adults, some 48 per cent said they would prefer Britain goes ahead with Brexit, compared with only 39 per cent who said they would still prefer to stay in the bloc.

The poll suggests that, with ‘Don’t Knows excluded’, over 55 per cent of people now back Britain leaving the European Union.

This contrasts strongly with a recent poll commissioned by the Remain-supporting Independent website, which was debunked as fake news after alleging an 11-point lead for staying in the EU on flimsy evidence.

YouGov (Prefer that Britain stays in or leaves the EU): STAY 39 (-5)

LEAVE 48 (+2) Fieldwork 13th-19th December, changes vs 2nd October

N=1,692

Tabs https://t.co/lkC3ShnjLK

HT @whatukthinks pic.twitter.com/qJ24thF0yi — Number Cruncher Politics UK (@NCPoliticsUK) December 26, 2017

The shift follows a series of unpopular moves by the European Union since Brexit.

Brussels has adopted a belligerent stance in the Brexit talks, demanding a massive divorce settlement from Britain despite her having been a net contributor to EU coffers for over four decades, is also attempting to insist that Britain should not be allowed to change its regulations or cut its taxes in a way which would subject EU economies to “unfair competition” after it leaves.

The bloc has also revealed ambitious plans for greater European integration, including calls for the posts of European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council chief Donald Tusk to be merged into a kind of super-presidency, and an expansive military pact hailed as an important milestone on the road to a single European army.

Top eurocrats have also made it clear that they will continue to encourage mass migration from Africa and Asia as official policy, with European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos publicly declaring: “It’s time to face the truth. We cannot and will never be able to stop migration,” and boasting that it “is deeply intertwined with our policies [and] an economic and social imperative for an ageing continent.”

Fake News: ‘Shock’ Poll Alleges Brexit ‘Remainers’ Now Have 11-Point Lead over Leave… They Don’t https://t.co/8Jq2iOAL6R — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 18, 2017

Meanwhile, members of the public appear to be worried about the potential impact of a British exit on the EU’s fortunes.

While a small plurality of French respondents to the EuroTrack poll said they would prefer the United Kingdom to go ahead with Brexit — 37 per cent to 26 per cent — most European countries seem incredibly keen to hold on to it.

In Germany, which faces a €3.8 billion hole in its finances in the even of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit, some 55 per cent of respondents said they would prefer Britain stays, compared to just 21 per cent who said they would prefer it to leave.

In Denmark, the figures are 62 per cent to 15 percent, in Sweden 59 per cent to 18 per cent, and in Finland 54 per cent to 23 per cent.

Don't be fooled; practical European leaders like Hungary's foreign minister know a 'No Deal' scenario hurts the EU more than the UK. #Brexit pic.twitter.com/AM5EcSkpJq — Jack Montgomery ن (@JackBMontgomery) October 15, 2017

YouGov also asked respondents if they supported the creation of a fully-fledged United State of Europe by 2025, as recently advocated by former President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, and endorsed by the European Parliament’s chosen Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt.

They found little public support, with just 10 per cent of British respondents saying they supported this vision, in line with senior Remainers such as Sir Michael Heseltine.

Only in Germany did support for a United States of European outweigh opposition to it — at 28 per cent to 26 per cent.

The number of people who said they strongly supported a United States of Europe, rather than just tending to support it, was vanishingly small, at 3 per cent in Britain, 10 per cent in Germany, 8 per cent in France, 2 per cent in Denmark, 3 per cent in Sweden, and 3 per cent in Finland.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery