Verdicts · Foreign Policy
What the UK thinks about foreign policy
Settled referendums
33
since Jun 2026
Votes cast
6,355
all time, on foreign policy
This week
2,670
votes · 5 referendums settled
Written opinions
362
all time, left by voters
This week's opinion highlightThe most respected opinion this week
“Is ending the slave trade not enough reparations? Noone today in the UK that is British has owned a slave, nor are the people that would benefit from the reparations a slave by the British.”
moley, debating No on “Should the UK pay reparations to countries from which British slave traders took slaves?” · read the thread →
13
Respects
Most respected on foreign policy this week
- 1.JohnnyBoy21 respects
- 2.BenL21 respects
- 3.CCWales17 respects
- 4.JustFactsNotBeliefs16 respects
- 5.constancia14 respects
Who answered this week
The 787 placed voters lean Centre Right overall.
H. Left6%
Left19%
C. Left8%
Centre8%
C. Right10%
Right42%
H. Right7%
Regions this week
South EastC. Right
ScotlandCentre
LondonCentre
South WestC. Right
North WestC. Right
YorkshireCentre
East of EnglandC. Right
North EastC. Right
West MidlandsC. Right
East MidlandsCentre
Northern IrelandRight
WalesC. Right
Votes each week
2,670so far this week
16927 Jul
1533 Aug
18310 Aug
59817 Aug
1,30624 Aug
2,67031 Aug
All-time foreign policy highlights
Biggest landslide
NO 91%
Should the UK pay reparations to countries from which British slave traders took slaves?
91% of 580 votes went the same way.
Closest result
50 / 50
Should the UK government demand that Israel release detained Gaza hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya?
Dead level — an exact tie.
Most debated
YES 51%
Do Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide?
57 written opinions.
This week
5 settled · 2,670 votes
0% NO
Majority against
YES 9%
580 votes
0 skipped
by @KeenBallot78⏱ Ended 3 Sept 2026
Should the UK pay reparations to countries from which British slave traders took slaves?
The verdict
The room chose closure over compensation, with the winning side arguing that “Regular people should not inherit the sins of 18th-century elites” and the Yes case barely heard.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 33%
589 votes
0 skipped
by @mjpjmp⏱ Ended 3 Sept 2026
Is International Aid a luxury that the UK can no longer afford, given the level of the national debt?
The verdict
“Its a luxury we cannot afford period” captured a debt-first room: voters chose to treat international aid as discretionary, not untouchable.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 38%
499 votes
0 skipped
by @NeilCrago⏱ Ended 1 Sept 2026
Should the UK deepen trade ties and offer Canada tariff relief in response to the US trade war?
The verdict
“Trade is a compact, not a comfort blanket” was the No side’s sharpest warning; the chamber nevertheless chose Yes, favouring Canadian solidarity over staying out of Washington and Ottawa’s fight.
0% NO
Majority against
YES 41%
504 votes
0 skipped
by @MuzackirHussain⏱ Ended 30 Aug 2026
Is it time to accept that Brexit was a failure and rejoin the EU?
The verdict
“Clinging to a decision out of pride” was the sharpest Yes appeal, but the chamber rejected rejoining: No won by a clear margin, with far more argument about how Brexit was mishandled than whether it should be reversed.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 44%
498 votes
0 skipped
by @AlexH⏱ Ended 30 Aug 2026
Should the UK ban social media platforms where foreign owners manipulate the feed to undermine society?
The verdict
The side that feared a censorship tool made the sharper case, yet Yes prevailed: a narrow decision for intervention in a debate where the losing side supplied most of the argument and the room’s most respected warnings.
Last week
4 settled · 1,306 votes
0% YES
Majority for
NO 33%
390 votes
0 skipped
by @Fred_bloggs⏱ Ended 27 Aug 2026
Does the Muslim lobby have too much influence over western policy?
The verdict
Religious lobbies, the floor’s strongest Yes voices argued, should have no privileged route into policy; the chamber sided with Yes, while the sharpest No case defended Muslim civic participation.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 40%
331 votes
0 skipped
by @Glasses⏱ Ended 25 Aug 2026
With giving Ukraine blueprints for long range missiles, are we slowly creeping towards war with Russia?
The verdict
The room backed the warning that missile blueprints mean a slow drift towards war, even as its most-respected voices argued over whether support for Ukraine deters Russia or feeds the danger.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 49%
295 votes
0 skipped
by @Selenarose99⏱ Ended 24 Aug 2026
Do Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide?
The verdict
“International law must apply universally” was the winning side’s refrain, but Yes prevailed by only two votes in a debate where the highest-respected argument came from No.
0% YES
Majority for
NO 43%
290 votes
0 skipped
by @refnation⏱ Ended 23 Aug 2026
Does the Israel lobby have too much influence over western policy?
The verdict
“Too many lobbies have too much influence,” one voter wrote; the chamber backed the proposition, but the sharpest No arguments were the ones voters respected most.
Every foreign policy verdict
- NO 91%Should the UK pay reparations to countries from which British slave traders took slaves?The room chose closure over compensation, with the winning side arguing that “Regular people should not inherit the sins of 18th-century elites” and the Yes case barely heard.
- YES 67%Is International Aid a luxury that the UK can no longer afford, given the level of the national debt?“Its a luxury we cannot afford period” captured a debt-first room: voters chose to treat international aid as discretionary, not untouchable.
- YES 62%Should the UK deepen trade ties and offer Canada tariff relief in response to the US trade war?“Trade is a compact, not a comfort blanket” was the No side’s sharpest warning; the chamber nevertheless chose Yes, favouring Canadian solidarity over staying out of Washington and Ottawa’s fight.
- NO 59%Is it time to accept that Brexit was a failure and rejoin the EU?“Clinging to a decision out of pride” was the sharpest Yes appeal, but the chamber rejected rejoining: No won by a clear margin, with far more argument about how Brexit was mishandled than whether it should be reversed.
- YES 56%Should the UK ban social media platforms where foreign owners manipulate the feed to undermine society?The side that feared a censorship tool made the sharper case, yet Yes prevailed: a narrow decision for intervention in a debate where the losing side supplied most of the argument and the room’s most respected warnings.
- YES 67%Does the Muslim lobby have too much influence over western policy?Religious lobbies, the floor’s strongest Yes voices argued, should have no privileged route into policy; the chamber sided with Yes, while the sharpest No case defended Muslim civic participation.
- YES 60%With giving Ukraine blueprints for long range missiles, are we slowly creeping towards war with Russia?The room backed the warning that missile blueprints mean a slow drift towards war, even as its most-respected voices argued over whether support for Ukraine deters Russia or feeds the danger.
- YES 51%Do Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide?“International law must apply universally” was the winning side’s refrain, but Yes prevailed by only two votes in a debate where the highest-respected argument came from No.
- YES 57%Does the Israel lobby have too much influence over western policy?“Too many lobbies have too much influence,” one voter wrote; the chamber backed the proposition, but the sharpest No arguments were the ones voters respected most.
- NO 74%Should the UK restore foreign aid spending to 0.7% of national income?Voters treated the aid target as a debt-funded luxury rather than a strategic asset: No won by nearly three to one, while the sharpest line was “We need to stop paying for our own demise.”
- NO 68%As the international power balance appears to be shifting away from the USA/west, should UK move closer to China?“Pragmatism is needed” met a room more anxious about strategic dependence than excited by China’s rise: No won by more than two to one.
- YES 73%Should the United Kingdom pursue foreign policy more independently of the United States?A chamber worried that sovereignty should mean more than choosing whose lead to follow gave Yes a decisive victory — with the sharpest line arguing there is “No point voting Brexit to reclaim sovereignty if that is subject to US opinion”.
- NO 64%Should the Foreign Office give climate change and international development a higher priority?What stands out is not just that No won by nearly two to one, but that it won unopposed: not a single Yes voter showed up to make the case for Miliband's foreign policy pivot, leaving 153 votes to be shaped entirely by the side that didn't want it.
- NO 67%Should Ed Miliband personally lead UK engagement at the World Bank on climate and development?Two to one against, and not a single Yes voter thought the case worth writing down — a rout in which the winning side barely bothered to argue and the losing case was never made at all.
- NO 56%Can Ed Miliband strengthen UK foreign policy as foreign secretary?A hypothetical reshuffle drew a real verdict: asked to imagine Ed Miliband running British diplomacy under a Prime Minister Burnham, the floor split against the idea by roughly four to three, 19 of 34 unconvinced he could strengthen UK foreign policy.
- YES 80%Should the UK define a long-term strategic approach to a post-conflict Russia?The chamber's instinct was less about Ukraine than about foresight itself: four in five voters here backed a formal long-term UK strategy for a post-conflict Russia, treating strategic patience as good statecraft rather than premature guesswork.
- YES 82%Should the UK impose joint cyber sanctions on Russian state and criminal networks?On a question that might once have split Britain along its familiar Brexit-era lines over Russia, the chamber instead converged hard, backing joint UK-EU cyber sanctions on Moscow's state and criminal networks by four to one — a rare foreign-policy consensus in a country not known for them.
- YES 61%Should the UK seek closer ties with the EU?Six years on from full withdrawal, the chamber's clearest fault line wasn't young against old but a single cohort standing apart from every other age group: voters in their late fifties and early sixties dug in hardest against closer ties, even as the vote overall swung decisively — two to one — behind a Brexit "reset".
- YES 80%Does the Muslim and Jewish debate dominate UK politics too much?Fatigue rather than division carried this one: four in five voters said the Israel-Gaza debate has crowded out British politics too much, a verdict so broad it barely split by age or sex, though the 55-64s were the most reluctant to say so.
- NO 53%Should the UK ban imports from Israeli West Bank settlements?Close enough at national level to look like a coin toss, but the near-unanimity hidden inside it — women here rejecting a settlements ban almost to a person, the 55-64s doing the same — tells a different story than the six-point margin suggests.
Show all 33 verdicts ↓
- YES 74%Should the UK impose further sanctions on Russia's FSB and GRU over Turla cyber attacks?Three in four voters here backed tougher sanctions on Russia's FSB and GRU, a rare moment of near-uniform consensus that cut across every age bracket without exception.
- YES 53%Would UK support for further US strikes on Iran risk escalating Middle East conflict?A near-tie on paper masks a real fracture: the 25-34s broke decisively for the escalation risk while their elders in the 55-64 bracket, Britain's largest bloc here, shrugged it off — a rare case of youth sounding the alarm and the middle-aged staying calm.
- YES 63%Should the JCPOA have been maintained instead of the ongoing war?Six in ten voters here judged that diplomacy beat war, but the one age group that came of age watching Iraq and Syria unravel — the 35-44s — were the sole holdouts against that verdict.
- YES 72%Should the UK ban Iran's IRGC and its UK-based proxy over attacks on Jewish sites?On a question that fused counter-terrorism with antisemitism, the chamber found rare consensus: banning the IRGC and its UK proxy passed by nearly three to one, with every generation and both sexes landing on the same side.
- NO 80%Should the UK restore the 0.7% of national income overseas aid target?The aid target that helped define Blair-Brown-era Britain found almost no constituency left to defend it here: voters rejected restoring the 0.7% pledge by four to one, with the 55-64 bracket, Labour's own core vote, dug in hardest against it.
- NO 65%Should the UK impose further sanctions on Israel and ban trade in goods from illegal settlements?Rejected two to one, further sanctions on Israel ran into a wall of scepticism among women here, who opposed the measure by nearly nine to one, while men were far more evenly split.
- YES 59%Should Parliament have a veto over political appointments to top diplomatic posts?A modest majority for clipping ministers' wings on ambassadorial patronage, but the coalition behind it is anything but modest — women backed a parliamentary veto three to one while men were split down the middle.
- TIEDShould the UK government demand that Israel release detained Gaza hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya?A dead heat: 25-25, exactly split down the middle on demanding Israel release Gaza hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya — but beneath the tie, a real fracture between 25-34s who backed the demand and 35-44s who resisted it.
- NO 54%Should the next UK prime minister devote as much time to foreign affairs as Keir Starmer did?A narrow but clear win for No: by 25 votes to 21, the chamber rejected Starmer's demand that his successor keep matching his foreign-policy time, with under-35s the only cohort still keen.
- YES 68%Should the UK continue to support Ukraine?Yes carried the chamber by 36 points, but the age breakdown reads less like consensus than a fault line running straight through the middle of working-age Britain, with 25-34 year olds backing Ukraine 4 to 1 while 35-54s turned against it.
- YES 57%Is Russia a paper tiger?A narrow 57-43 verdict that Russia is a paper tiger, carried by a modest but consistent lean across nearly every age group bar the youngest and oldest, who split down the middle.
- YES 54%Should the UK still have such emphasis on the transatlantic relationship considering the USA's instability?A narrow Yes on rethinking the transatlantic tilt, but the real story is age: 55-64s broke 80% for questioning Washington while 25-34s split almost down the middle.
- YES 53%Should the UK support EU-led talks with Russia over Ukraine?A wafer-thin win for backing EU-led talks with Russia, 21-19, that masks a sharp generational split: 25-34s voted 65% yes while 16-24s ran hard the other way, 9 of 13 saying no.