Britons most likely to see Anglosphere countries as the UK’s friends, while nearly nine in ten view Russia as unfriendly or a threat
Since the election, Keir Starmer has been on a mission to ‘reset’ the UK’s relationships with many European countries, visiting multiple capitals since July and recently signing a new defence agreement with Germany. But while politicians might see these relationships as needing repair, how do Britons see the UK’s diplomatic relations – who are seen as Britain’s allies, friends and enemies?
Three countries – Australia, Canada and New Zealand – stand out at the top of the list of friendly nations. Just over seven in ten Britons (71-73%) view our three Commonwealth partners as friends and allies specifically, with nearly nine in ten (85-87%) seeing the relationships as positive overall.
Nearly as many Britons (84%) see the UK’s ‘special relationship’ with America as friendly overall, although a lower rate of 63% see our transatlantic partner as a ‘friend and ally’ specifically rather than a ‘friendly rival’, which is the label given by 21% of the public.
Of the countries polled, Sweden is the non-Anglosphere country seen as friendliest to Britain, with 80% of the public seeing the UK and Sweden as having a positive relationship. In fact, Britain is overwhelmingly seen as getting on with all the European countries polled, with more than three-quarters of Britons (76-78%) seeing Italy, Ireland, Spain and Germany as being friendly with the UK, 73% feeling so of Poland and 71% of France.
Some grudges and rivalries do linger, however, with around one in ten Britons (9-10%) considering the UK to be on negative terms with Ireland and Germany, while one sixth of the public (17%) see France’s relationship with Britain as unfriendly or even hostile.
With Russia and China, the negativity clearly goes beyond a grudge. Three in ten Britons (30%) see China as a threat to the UK, with another third of the public (33%) seeing us as being on unfriendly terms. The public understanding of the relationship with Russia is even more clear-cut: seven in ten Britons (71%) see Russia as a hostile threat, with a further 15% seeing the UK and Russia as largely unfriendly.
Britons are more divided in their reading of our diplomatic relations with the key middle eastern regional powers of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Around a third of Britons (31-35%) see both countries as allies or friendly rivals to the UK, but a similar number (35-36%) view the relationships as acrimonious, including one in eleven (9%) who see Saudi Arabia as a threat and one in six (17%) who feel Israel is hostile to the UK.
How do perceptions of the UK’s foreign relations vary by party?
Notably, for most of the countries polled, there is fairly limited variation between voters as to whether or not a country is perceived as getting on with the UK. With the United States, for instance, between 85% and 91% of supporters for all four main parties see America as having positive relations with Britain.
There are, though, a few notable exceptions. While eight in ten Labour and Lib Dem voters (81-82%) see France as an ally or friendly rival of the UK, this is true of only 55% of Reform UK voters, a third of whom (32%) instead see France as generally unfriendly towards Britain.
Similarly, divisive is the European Union, which three quarters of Labour voters (76%) see as having a positive relationship with the UK, compared to just 56% of Conservatives and one in three of those who voted for Reform UK in July (35%). Alternatively, three in ten Conservative voters (30%) and four in ten Reform UK voters (40%) label the EU as unfriendly, while one in seven Reform voters (14%) go even further, describing the EU as a hostile threat to the UK.
Perceptions of Israel also divide somewhat along party lines. Conservative and Reform UK voters split two-to-one in favour of Israel being an ally or friendly rival, with around half of both voter bases (49-52%) saying so, against a quarter (25-26%) who see Israel’s relationship with the UK as less positive. However, only three in ten Labour voters (31%) feel Israel and the UK have good relations, while four in ten (40%) see it as unfriendly or even a threat to Britain.
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Photo: Getty
