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Brexit news latest: Voters back delay in new survey... but warn PM not to use it to save her ‘broken’ deal

Britons support a delay to Brexit — providing it is not used to try to revive Theresa May’s unpopular exit blueprint, a new YouGov poll reveals today.

Just one in 10 members of the public think any “extra time” should be devoted to yet more attempts to bludgeon the twice-rejected deal over the line, the survey found.

Twice as many people would prefer a longer extension to allow time for a deeper rethink of Brexit, such as a second referendum or negotiations towards a different form of exit.

Dame Margaret Beckett, the former Labour foreign secretary, said the results showed Mrs May’s deal was now “broken” and should be put aside.

“Both the United Kingdom and the EU27 now need to negotiate calmly for an extension of the deadline if we are to prevent what is already a deeply damaging Brexit causing even greater calamity,” she said at an event for the People’s Vote campaign, which commissioned the YouGov poll.

She warned: “Theresa May’s broken Brexit deal is supported by very few — either in the country or in Parliament.”

The survey found 52 per cent want a Brexit delay, while only 35 per cent say the UK must leave next week on March 29.

A new public vote is backed by a clear margin of 47 to 37 per cent — or 56 to 44 if “don’t knows” are excluded.

Given a choice between Mrs May’s deal or staying in the EU, voters would choose by 60 to 40 per cent to remain in the bloc. They would also oppose crashing out on no-deal terms by 56 to 44 per cent.

The findings come ahead of Saturday’s planned “Put it to the People” march through London organised by the People’s Vote, which is predicting one of the biggest turnouts ever recorded.

Some 180 coaches have been booked from around the UK, some sponsored by celebrity supporters including TV chef Delia Smith and actor Sir Patrick Stewart. Writer and director Armando Iannucci, whose hits include The Thick Of It and The Death Of Stalin, is sponsoring a coach from Oxford.

He said: “When government whips vote against their own legislation, when the Prime Minister tries to take no-deal off the table but makes her MPs vote to keep it on, and when an Opposition that says it supports a People’s Vote urges its MPs to abstain from voting for one, I believe Brexit’s gone well and truly through the looking glass. I think the only sensible thing left is to put whatever Brexit deal Parliament comes up with to the voters one last time.”

Sir Patrick, sponsoring a coach from Huddersfield, said: “This is High Noon for Brexit... anyone who wants to prevent years more of this madness should come to make their voice heard.” One man, Edmund Sides, is walking from Swansea to join the march.