CUMBRIA remains bitterly divided over Brexit - with demands for an end to the political crisis intensifying.

A survey of readers at www.newsandstar.co.uk showed that the split between those who want to leave the EU and people who want to remain is still narrow.

Just over 2,400 people who took part in a poll yesterday.

Of them, 52 per cent said that if there were another referendum they would choose to leave the EU.

That compared to 44 per cent who said they would want to stay. The remaining four per cent said they wouldn’t vote or didn’t know how they would vote.

And the margin of opinion about whether there should be a second referendum was narrow too.

Sixty per cent said “we’ve already voted - get on with it”. The other 40 per cent backed another vote, saying that so much had changed in the two-and-a-half years since the original referendum.

Asked if the UK should leave the EU with no deal, 52 per cent said ‘yes’ - believing the country could go it alone - 41 per cent said “no”, fearing the implications would be catastrophic, while seven per cent said they did not know enough about the issue.

The poll - albeit only a sample of Cumbrian views - also highlighted the wider social impact of the bitter and long-running Brexit debate.

Forty-five per cent of those who took part in the survey said they were sick of the issue and had lost interest in politics.

Another 39 per cent admitted to being fascinated by the debate, while 17 per cent of people said they were interested in politics generally, but not in Brexit.

The findings came during another day of political high drama in which Theresa May’s government survived a vote of no confidence in Parliament.

Conservative MPs turned out in support of keeping the party in power just 24 hours after the Prime Minister suffered a crushing defeat over her Withdrawal Agreement in the Commons.

Sharing their views on the News & Star Facebook page, readers shared their frustrations.

Stephen Farish wrote: “How about concentrating on the loud and clear ‘leave’ mandate and stop this EU surrender of sovereignty now?”

Kevin Percival posted: “It’s a total embarrassment. All parties should be working together.”

John Knox said: “Are we having best of three votes? Paper, scissor and stones to decide the outcomes.”

But Mark Ritson wrote: “The whole idea of a democracy is to try to find the best option and if leave is the wrong option or if a deal is a bad deal then the democratic process has to be find another way and go back to the people to see what they think.

“Its 2.5 years since the farce which was offered as a referendum. Many lies were told and no detailed information about deals or no deals or hard Brexit etc . Now the people are starting to get what is happening then of course they should be involved in the process again.”

Alan Saunders posted: “If people want to use tabloid slogans it’s truly scary. Hard Brexit is disastrous and involves a right-wing takeover. Be careful of what you wish for.”

In Parliament last night, 314 Tories voted against Labour’s motion of no confidence in the Government - meaning all from the party eligible to vote took part, with two whips acting as tellers and Dame Eleanor Laing unable to vote due her position as deputy speaker.

The 10 DUP MPs joined with their minority Government allies, plus Independent MP Lady Sylvia Hermon (North Down), to defeat the motion by 325 votes to 306 - majority 19.

The full number of Labour MPs available to vote - 251 - supported the motion along with the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and four independents.

Mrs May responded to the result by inviting the leaders of opposition parties to meet with her one-on-one to discuss a way forward and vowed to deliver on the “solemn promise” to deliver Brexit.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn replied: “Before there can be any positive discussions about the way forward, the Government must remove clearly once and for all the prospect of the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit from the EU, and all the chaos that would come as a result of that.”

A six-hour debate took place before the vote in which Mr Corbyn urged Mrs May’s “zombie Government” to make way and declared her “Frankenstein” Brexit deal officially dead.

He attacked Mrs May for presiding over “the largest defeat in the history of our democracy” on her Brexit deal and criticised the Government’s record on issues beyond leaving the EU.

But Mr Corbyn faced Tory taunts, with former minister Anna Soubry labelling him the “most hopeless Leader of the Opposition we’ve ever had”.

The Prime Minister rose to cheers and the stamping of feet from her backbenchers and told Mr Corbyn a general election would be “the worst thing we could do”.