Confidence in UK's global role plunges after
Brexit, poll finds
Belief that Britain is force for good in world is down
10 points from April 2019 in UK
Daniel
Boffey in Brussels
Mon 28 Sep
2020 06.00 BST
As
negotiations on the UK’s future relationship enter a key week in Brussels and
with the country set to leave the EU’s single market and customs union at the
end of the year, a poll by Ipsos Mori suggests there is a lack of confidence in
Britain’s global role.
Just under
half of Britons (49%) believe that Britain is a force for good in the world,
down 10 points from April 2019. While 41% of Britons say the UK should punch
above its weight in world affairs, the proportion who believe Britain should
stop pretending it is an important power is up five points from last year to
38%.
The public
are still more likely to say that Britain should increase its influence around
the world than reduce it – by 36% to 16%.
The polling
was commissioned by the EU-UK forum, a new organisation established in Brussels
in an attempt to promote a close relationship between Britain and the bloc in
the coming years.
The
negotiations over a trade and security deal are due to resume in Brussels on
Tuesday, with UK officials talking up the prospects of agreement. EU sources
are more cautious, warning that the compromises necessary are yet to be made.
Relations
have been made more difficult following Boris Johnson’s decision to legislate
to allow the UK to unilaterally rewrite the terms of the withdrawal agreement
in what ministers have admitted is a breach of international law.
Such was
the outrage over the government’s move that the Democrat contender for US
president, Joe Biden, warned that he would block a UK-US trade deal if the
British government put at risk the Good Friday agreement by breaking with the
arrangements agreed on Northern Ireland in the withdrawal agreement.
Despite the
row over the internal market bill, in which the threat to breach the agreement
was made, optimism has grown in recent days that a deal on a future
relationship can be struck.
A summit of
EU leaders on 15 October is being seen by both sides as a crunch point by which
time it will be clear whether common ground can be found on the outstanding issues.
The two
sides have struggled to find a mutually acceptable solution to the level of
access that European fleets will have to British fishing waters or how to
maintain a “level playing field” for businesses in which neither side can
unfairly lower production standards or prop up ailing companies through state
aid subsidies.
But there
is a growing belief in Westminster that the prime minister is not willing to
face a no-deal exit from the transition period at a time when the country is
struggling to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
According
to the Ipsos Mori poll, Europe remains Britain’s most important relationship in
the world for four in 10 of the public, with double the number of people
choosing the EU over either the Commonwealth or the US.
Four in
five think maintaining a close relationship with the EU is important despite
Brexit, although only 39% of people now think that is likely, down 13 points
since April 2019.
Two in five
(40%) believe the top priority for Britain’s relationship with the EU is
striking a trade agreement, with one in five saying it is to prevent and detect
crime and terrorism, coordinate responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, or deal
with global migration.
Paul
Adamson, chairman of the EU-UK forum, said: “The polling shows that the vast
majority of people think it is important for the UK to keep a close
relationship with the EU despite Brexit, and only a minority wants to see the
UK stepping back from the global stage.
“Since
Brexit is a process – not a final destination – the EU-UK Forum is being
launched to facilitate and nurture constructive and informed dialogue between
the UK and the EU.”
Ipsos Mori
interviewed a sample of 1,068 British adults aged 16-75 between 10 and 14
September.
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