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Tuesday 01 March 2016 9:18 am

EU referendum: These are the most eurosceptic – and europhile – parts of Britain

By: James Nickerson

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The campaign is heating up in the build up to the EU referendum in June, with Prime Minister David Cameron recommending the UK to stay in but many in parliament, his party, and even his cabinet disagreeing.

The In and Out campaign groups will now be ramping up their efforts in a last ditch attempt to win over voters in what many see as the most important political decision of a generation.

But just where should these campaigns focus their resources? New YouGov research may have given them a hint, finding both the most eurosceptic and europhile areas of the UK.

Read more: EU reforms are not legally binding, warns Michael Gove

Using data from 188 local education authorities, YouGov has produced a map to show the results, and there's a pretty clear divide running across the country.

Taking the average net support for leaving the EU in each region and ranking these from the most to the least eurosceptic, the polling organisation managed to group the top ten most eurosceptic regions, the top ten most europhile regions and those which fall somewhere in between.

The top 10 most eurosceptic regions are spread across England, with three in the south east: Havering, Peterborough and Southend on Sea. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London claims five of the most europhile areas. The other five most europhile areas are not even in England, but are instead found in Wales and Scotland.

Some northern, traditionally Labour areas fall into the second tier of euroscepticism.

Areas such as Hull, Doncaster, Barnsley are in this group, adding weight to the claim that Labour may be damaging itself by campaigning for the UK's continued membership of the EU.

Read more: Farage is most popular in areas where immigration is lowest

Meanwhile, the larger group of mixed but predominantly eurosceptic-leaning regions extends noticeably around the coastal south and east of England.

Euroscepticism appears to correlate highly to lower income, though can also be found in more wealthy Tory heartlands, YouGov found.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many europhile areas are in university towns where the median age is lower, such as Liverpool, Manchester, York and Bristol.

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