Independent polling of Conservative and Labour Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom has revealed strong support for establishing free movement and trade agreements with Canada, Australia and New Zealand under a CANZUK agreement.
Written by James Skinner
The polling, conducted by UK Research firm Savanta ComRes, surveyed Members of Parliament across the United Kingdom and from various political parties.
The fieldwork was conducted from November 13th 2020 until January 4th 2021, gaining political insights into the establishment of free movement, trade and foreign policy cooperation between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The findings revealed strong support from both Conservative and Labour MPs, specifically for the introduction of free movement and free trade agreements between the four CANZUK countries.
“In the November and December 2020 Savanta ComRes MP Panel survey, we asked several questions on the topic of CANZUK, a term used to describe a possible agreement between the nations of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom,” the report’s executive summary states.
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“The vast majority of MPs from both parties support free movement of goods between the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The majority also support free movement of people – with three-quarters of Labour MPs and half of Conservative MPs supporting this.”
Specifically, 94% of UK Members of Parliament support the free movement of goods between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, while 61% support the free movement of people under a CANZUK agreement (23% oppose).
By party, free trade was supported by 97% of Conservative MPs and 87% of Labour MPs, while free movement of citizens was supported by 50% of Conservative MPs (35% opposed) and 72% of Labour MPs (10% opposed).
There was little support for implementing a political union between the CANZUK countries, similar to that of the European Union. Only 19% of Labour MPs supported this measure, with even fewer Conservative MPs at 16%. This coincides with the policy of CANZUK International, which would see Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom form free movement and trade agreements as independent, sovereign nations, with no intention of formulating a political union through a common parliament, currency or court system.
The findings also revealed the opinions of MPs regarding whether they believed CANZUK “would be of significance in today’s political landscape”. Of all Members of Parliament, 76% agreed with this statement and only 14% disagreed.
The full report from Savanta ComRes can be viewed and downloaded here.
The results from the parliamentary survey are significant for the CANZUK campaign, as they not only reveal support for CANZUK International’s proposals from all major UK political parties, but also reveal the common agreement between MPs regarding the importance of establishing a CANZUK arrangement with Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
CANZUK International is delighted with the results of the survey and will continue to work with UK Members of Parliament in promoting CANZUK and advancing the objectives of the CANZUK All-Party Parliamentary Group throughout 2021.
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