Britain's European Union membership to inspire one of YouGov's biggest ever polling campaigns

YouGov is set to launch one of its biggest polling campaigns to cover the referendum on Britain’s European Union membership.

Full details will be launched at the firm’s annual conference in Cambridge next month where it will also reveal its conclusions on why it and all pollsters got last May’s General Election so wrong.

Chief executive Stephan Shakespeare said: “It will become very exciting.

“This is going to be a very important vote as far as business is concerned and it’s not just about the horserace number at the top but about understanding what people are thinking and doing in relation to Europe.”

Despite the high profile of political polling, YouGov makes most of its money from combining its data and polls for businesses to drive their marketing.

Revenues rose 13% to £76.1 million in the year to July which Shakespeare described as the “first year of a very aggressive five-year growth plan.”

Headline profits rose 19% to £9.1 million and the dividend is up 15% to 1p a share.