Report

BFPG’s 2025 annual survey of UK public opinion on foreign policy and global affairs

This report from UK think tank the British Foreign Policy Group explores the British public’s opinion on foreign policy and global affairs.

BFPG’s 2025 Annual Survey, the seventh iteration of the survey which began in 2019, finds that public support for the ‘special relationship’ has collapsed, with President Trump seen to be undermining the UK’s national interests. Instead, Britons are shifting back towards Europe and the EU. Not only is support for closer cooperation with the EU now broad and deep, even among Leave voters, but the majority of Britons now identify as European, as the war in Ukraine, challenges over Brexit, and the retrenchment of the United States all push the UK back towards its European partners. In this shift, Britons hope to find both economic and security solutions to the challenges facing the UK, as Britons adopt an increasingly self-interested approach to foreign policy, on everything from international development to trade, partnerships and global leadership.

But while Britain’s foreign policy approach is increasingly hard-nosed it is, nevertheless, clear that the public isn’t aware of, nor prepared for, the scale of the national security challenge the UK faces. Understanding of the level of security risk is weak and support for defence spending is very superficial, buckling under the realities of spending trade-offs. This challenge is particularly acute among young people, who are increasingly disengaged from the conflict in Ukraine and relatively unfazed by the potential risks posed by China.

As the UK debates its future security posture and the need for ‘war-readiness’, our survey shows that public buy-in is far from guaranteed. There is a clear need for greater transparency and public engagement on what national security requires in a rapidly changing world.