GETTY Britain is now the only country where most voters who have decided would vote to leave

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If a referendum was held now, the UK is the only nation where most voters who have made their minds up, 54 per cent, would vote to leave the European Union. Even allowing for 21 per cent who are still undecided, Britain has more people who want to leave than stay in, by 43 to 36 per cent. In 13 other nations polled, the majority, 64 per cent, want to stay in. Anti-EU sentiment is growing in some other nations, including Italy and Belgium, but the bailed-out Greeks are more likely now to see their future inside Europe than a year ago.

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Over the past 12 months, there has been an increase from 51 to 54 per cent in the number of Britons with an opinion who would vote to leave.

The Prime Minister’s negotiations with his European colleagues appear to be crucial in avoiding Brexit Johnny Heald, of ORB International

And 38 per cent feel more distant from Europe compared with just 13 per cent a year ago. Last night Johnny Heald, of pollsters ORB International, said: “The Prime Minister’s negotiations with his European colleagues appear to be crucial in avoiding Brexit.” ORB questioned 1,000 people online in England, Scotland and Wales last month as part of a poll of 14 leading EU countries. The other EU nations polled were Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Sweden.

GETTY Anti-EU protest outside of the houses of Parliament

After the UK, Italy had the next highest proportion of voters wanting to leave the EU, with 42 per cent of those with an opinion favouring exit compared with 25 per cent a year ago. In Belgium – where most key EU institutions are – support for leaving is up to 33 from 25 per cent last year. Excluding the don’t knows, support for membership was strongest in the EU’s newest member states, Bulgaria and Romania.

GETTY These figures show that anti-Brussels sentiment is growing

Conservative former Chancellor and leading eurosceptic Lord Lawson said yesterday that if Britons were invited to join the EU today they would say no and “therefore we would be better off out. Inertia is not an argument”. The peer insisted there would be “no problem” for Britain’s future trade with the Continent if we left the EU. He said: “They need our market of something like £300billion.”

GETTY The Prime Minister has promised an in-out referendum by 2017