BOLTON would no longer back Brexit if another referendum was held today, according to a poll of Bolton News readers.

As Theresa May prepares to trigger Article 50 and formally begin the process of leaving the EU, we asked visitors to The Bolton News’ website whether they would still vote the same way they did in last June’s landmark referendum.

The results, polled from a total of 1,083 readers, showed that 54 per cent would now choose to stay in Europe, with 45 per cent voting to leave, and 1 per cent saying they would not vote.

Those figures mark a significant change from the actual referendum result last June, in which 58 per cent of voters in the borough opted to leave the EU.

Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East and a supporter of the Remain campaign, said: “These results don’t surprise me at all. After the referendum, I spoke to a lot of people who voted to leave and didn’t realise the full extent of what they had done.

“They did not understand the huge impact that leaving the EU will have.

“Even now we are at the very early stages of the process and will still find many more difficulties arising from the negotiations.”

However, Bolton West MP Chris Green says that he has found his constituents are “resilient” in their support for Brexit.

The Leave campaigner said: “Overall, I would say that my Bolton West constituents still support the decision that was made in June last year to leave the EU.

“Of course, there are always going to be opinion polls — which may not be particularly accurate — saying that there is a big majority for or against Brexit.

“But I think the people of Bolton are resilient in their beliefs.

“I have also found that there are many people from within the Remain camp who say that now we have had a democratic decision on Brexit, we need to deliver on that.

“We can’t follow the example of Nicola Sturgeon and demand another referendum.”