First polling straws in the wind of 2018 are promising for Lib Dems

Buckets of caveats and lorry loads of caution should be applied to the results of individual polls. But there’s a little clump of positive news for pro-European Liberal Democrats which might add up to something more substantive as 2018 progresses.

First up, the first YouGov poll out this year puts the Lib Dems on 9%, the highest rating from that pollster this Parliament (although this week’s council by-elections were more mixed).

Second, although there are reasons to doubt the headline-catching ComRes poll finding about majority support for a further referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, other polling also shows movement in favour of that position.

Third, the trend in YouGov’s polling continues to be towards people viewing the 2016 referendum result as a mistake, adding to earlier signs of a trend towards the pro-EU outlook: