A recent opinion poll showed that half of British voters are in favor of rejoining the European Union (EU).

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently hinted at the possibility of the UK returning to the EU.

According to the UK's Guardian on the 3rd local time, a survey conducted last month by the political consulting firm Messina Group showed that 49 percent of respondents supported rejoining the EU, while 28.5 percent opposed it.

The survey presented seven options for resetting relations with the EU, among which support for rejoining the EU was the highest by a narrow margin.

In addition, 48.2 percent favored revising bilateral agreements with the EU, and 47.1 percent supported joining the customs union.

Meanwhile, only 27.9 percent responded that the UK should distance itself further from the EU.

This was similar to the 29.7 percent of respondents who answered that Brexit, the UK's withdrawal from the EU, was the right decision.

On September 29, Prime Minister Burnham stated that at the EU-UK summit to be held next month, "I will present several options that I am considering for the long-term relationship between the UK and our European partners."

The following day, he told the BBC, "We could go all the way," hinting that rejoining the EU is also among the options.

This survey was conducted from September 12 to 24, before Prime Minister Burnham hinted at the possibility of returning to the EU.

In recent surveys by other organizations such as YouGov, answers in favor of rejoining the EU have also hovered around 50 percent, consistently outpacing opposition.

Analyzing the voters' responses, the Messina Group projected that the Labour Party's vote share would increase by 4.3 to 7.4 percentage points under each scenario of strengthening ties with the EU.

However, some analyses suggest that Prime Minister Burnham's card to return to the EU could cause political and social turmoil and division, potentially reviving the right-wing Reform UK party, which has recently been slumping.

The Guardian reported that among lawmakers representing constituencies that voted in favor of Brexit in the 2016 referendum, there are concerns that even testing the waters for popular support carries high political risks and would empower Reform UK.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, said on October 1, "A second referendum would divide the country more extremely than anything we have ever seen before," adding, "He may have just handed me the biggest momentum of my political career. Thank you, Andy."

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