Should the UK support EU-led talks with Russia over Ukraine?

Yes 53%No 47%40 votes cast

European leaders including the UK Prime Minister have called for direct Ukraine-Russia dialogue with US and European participation to achieve a ceasefire, while maintaining five conditions including no border changes by force and robust security guarantees for Ukraine. Russia has stated it does not view the EU as a neutral mediator because of its military and financial support for Ukraine. Recent meetings between European envoys and Russian officials have highlighted ongoing disagreements over the terms and participants in any talks.

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Yes carried the day, but only just — 21 votes to 19, a six-point margin that leaves this closer to a coin toss than an endorsement. On a question this fraught, straddling Ukraine, Russia and the credibility of European diplomacy, a near-even split is itself the story.

The real fracture sits in age, not gender. Voters aged 25-34 broke decisively for engagement, 15 yes to 8 no, while the youngest cohort, 16-24, went the other way by nearly three to one, 9 of 13 against. That is a striking reversal for two adjacent generations, and suggests the usual assumption that younger voters lean dovish on foreign policy doesn't hold here — if anything the youngest were the most sceptical of EU-brokered dialogue with Moscow.

Gender told a milder version of the same story, men splitting 60% yes against women's 45%, echoing a pattern seen in other security and defence votes where men tend to back diplomatic engagement more readily than women do. Together the splits point to a chamber uneasy about talking to Russia at all, with only the thirtysomethings offering anything like solid support — a reminder that scepticism of EU-led diplomacy toward Moscow runs deep across the post-Brexit generation as much as it does among Russia hawks.

In the end, Yes won the vote but not the argument.

LeftCentreRight

JacobP· 26
65% · In Step
YES
quietmoorings· 95
The Anti-Landlord Leftist57% · Coin Flip
YES
W
wandering_clementine· 85
The Split-Ticket Realist67% · In Step
YES
T
thecoastalfox· 102
The Unaligned Pragmatist55% · Coin Flip
NO
D
danny_offgrid· 96
The Hardhat Redistributor59% · Coin Flip
NO
T
thomas_hodson· 96
The Anti-Austerity Realist60% · Coin Flip
YES
B
bex_and_thecity· 109
The Reluctant Greenskeptic56% · Coin Flip
NO
foggy_friday· 105
The Welfare Realist50% · Coin Flip
YES
C
cleethorpes_carol· 92
The Welfare Disciplinarian63% · Coin Flip
NO
W
wintermute_77· 82
The Welfare Hardliner Egalitarian57% · Coin Flip
YES
N
northern_lass_91· 92
The Skeptical Devolutionist57% · Coin Flip
YES
N
nina_codes· 98
The Devolved Localist57% · Coin Flip
YES
M
mike_t_1987· 96
The Hard-Power Egalitarian64% · Coin Flip
YES
jordangoddard· 98
The Anti-CEO Regionalist54% · Coin Flip
NO
orchard_lane· 110
The Left-Leaning Sceptic48% · Contrarian
NO
O
oldpierwalker· 106
The Redistributive Realist60% · Coin Flip
NO
R
rachel_sowerby· 94
The Hard-Hat Redistributor57% · Coin Flip
YES
A
amir_h_official· 117
The Welfare Realist53% · Coin Flip
NO
B
becky.ramsden· 97
The Two-Tier Realist51% · Coin Flip
NO
L
liam_crowther· 106
The Redistributive Realist62% · Coin Flip
YES

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