Only a third of Britons want to stay in EU: Poll

Only a third of Britons would vote to stay in the EU in a proposed referendum, according to a poll that underlined the scale of Prime Minister David Cameron's task in persuading voters to support his flagship EU policy.

Cameron had promised last month to win back powers from Brussels as also hold a vote on the UK's 40-year EU membership.

Cameron would campaign to stay in the EU, provided he could reform Britain's ties with Brussels, which is opposed by European allies, and he secured a second term in an election due in 2015.

Just 33 per cent of voters would back his continuance to be part of the bloc, with 50 per cent wanting to leave and 17 per cent not planning to vote, according to the Harris Interactive poll published in the Financial Times.

Cameron's pledge to win back powers and hold a vote by the end of 2017 upset France and Germany and was criticised by the US, which wants UK to continue its membership.

It was in 1975 that the last vote on staying in Europe was held with the ''Yes'' campaign winning by a wide margin with 67.2 per cent favouring European membership and 32.8 per cent against.
Cameron, who had resisted numerous calls to hold a referendum, gave in last month promising that a Tory government would do so in 2017.

He said in case he won the next election, he would try to win back various powers from Brussels before putting Britain's EU membership to vote by the public.

He said he would campaign for an 'in' vote, though he had  ''no illusions about the scale of the task ahead''.