Drawing on input from a series of expert roundtables with leaders from across the science and foreign policy sectors, the report argues that the UK’s scientific ecosystem makes a key contribution to the UK’s international ambitions, by helping to foster trust and deepen international partnerships. 

As the UK looks to define its role in a fast changing world, the report identifies opportunities to better leverage the UK’s scientific expertise – from AI and technology to life sciences and global health – and, in turn, opportunities for authentic UK leadership in the world.

To achieve this, we recommend that the UK:

Recommendations

1. Develop a cohesive national narrative that champions science as essential to the UK’s resilience, prosperity, and global leadership, ensuring this is amplified through coordinated messaging across government, media, science and cultural institutions.

2. Leverage the expertise of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and external scientific experts, to develop a thematic focus on science in the Government’s upcoming Soft Power Strategy.

3. Embed scientific expertise in key FCDO planning and infrastructure, including wider diplomatic training and strategy development.

4. Expand the UK’s scientific and academic mobility schemes, including youth exchanges, fellowships, and talent and visa pathways.

5. Restore and scale targeted international science funds.

Read the Full Report

This report forms part of an ongoing programme of work between BFPG and the Wellcome Trust on the soft power implications of UK science. To learn more about this programme of work please contact Senior Research and Programmes Manager Eliza Keogh – eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk.

The post Science and Soft Power: Building a New Narrative for the UK’s Role in the World appeared first on British Foreign Policy Group.

But while Britons’ 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. 

Read the Full Report

Read the Executive Summary

Key Findings

The Not-So ‘Special’ Relationship: Trust in the United States has fallen from 53% in 2024 to just 38% in 2025, with more Britons now distrusting (41%) than trusting (38%) the United States to act responsibly in the world. President Trump’s actions are also now more widely seen as a major threat to UK national security (33%) than terrorism (32%) or the rise of China (25%). 

Britons Embrace the EU: In turn, Britons are shifting back towards the EU, with 62% of Britons believing the UK should move closer to the EU as a result of President Trump’s actions. Support for cooperation with the EU is wide and deep, with a strong majority of Britons supporting agreements made at the UK-EU Summit to strengthen defence and security cooperation (83%), reduce trade barriers around food and drink (79%), and enable ePassport gate access for Britons travelling in Europe (78%). Even among Leave voters, support is strong – 78% of Leave voters support recent agreements to strengthen defence and security cooperation with the EU. 

Superficial Support for Defence Spending: 71% of Britons support increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP either now or in the next few years. However, this support collapses when trade-offs are introduced – 60% of Britons oppose increasing defence spending if it requires cuts to the NHS, 47% if it requires cuts to education, and 46% if it requires cuts to welfare. 

Generational Divides Over Foreign Policy: There are growing generational divisions over foreign and security policy and while 46% of over-66s believe supporting Ukraine should be a top priority for the UK, only 17% of 18-25-year-olds do. Younger Britons are also far less concerned about China, with only 41% of 18-25-year-olds distrusting China, compared to 81% of over-66s. 

The full report includes analysis of a wide range of other key foreign policy areas as well, including international development, free trade, international partnerships and much more besides. 

Media Enquiries:

eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk | 07884 375018

The post BFPG’s 2025 Annual Survey of UK Public Opinion on Foreign Policy and Global Affairs appeared first on British Foreign Policy Group.

Since the UK Soft Power Group first introduced a strategic framework for UK soft power in 2023, the international landscape has grown increasingly volatile. This challenging geopolitical context has placed hard power at the forefront of global politics – and the UK’s approach to it – in recent years. While hard power is clearly critical, soft power – that is, the ability to achieve a goal through attraction – is essential for creating the conditions for strengthening the UK’s alliances, diplomatic influence, and international credibility.  

The result of collaboration between 20 of the UK’s biggest soft power assets, the report explores the significant benefits that the UK reaps from its soft power, from supporting international peace and security, to boosting economic growth and strengthening the UK’s relationship with Europe. Harnessing these benefits will be critical in order for the UK to meet the challenges of an increasingly turbulent geopolitical environment.

FULL REPORT

SUMMARY REPORT

Report Snapshot:

– The UK is the third most attractive nation brand and possesses a wealth of soft power, from its rich cultural history and language to its higher education system, sporting prowess, financial services, and media.

– This soft power strength plays a crucial role in maintaining the UK’s international position. From tackling misinformation in Ukraine to strengthening relationships with Europe and educating the public on climate change, soft power has a critical role to play in achieving all of the UK’s top foreign policy priorities.

– However, the UK’s soft power strength is not guaranteed. With China and Russia investing heavily in soft power, particularly in increasingly geostrategically important regions such as Africa, and the United States retreating from its traditional position on the world stage, the UK must strategically invest in its soft power in order to maintain its position.

– The report therefore identifies key opportunities for the Government and soft power assets to work collaboratively together in support of the UK’s international ambitions. 

Report Recommendations:

– Establish a structured channel for engagement between Government and the wider soft power sector, including the UK Soft Power Group, alongside the Soft Power Council. 

– Provide clarity on the Government’s strategic priorities and long-term planning horizons and develop predictable funding mechanisms for UK soft power.

– Enhance connectivity between soft power assets and overseas Posts by better leveraging existing on-the-ground expertise, mechanisms and institutions. 

– Develop a ‘digital gateway to the UK’, a soft power digital platform where UK soft power assets can share resources, information on upcoming events and collaborate on projects.

– Develop provision for Whitehall Departments and devolved administrations to collectively address strategic issues and find practical solutions to opportunities and challenges in the soft power space.

About the UKSPG: Co-convened by BFPG and the British Council, the UK Soft Power Group (UKSPG) is the leading non-governmental organisation collectively representing soft power organisations in the UK. We represent many of the UK’s most treasured, compelling and active soft power organisations and institutions, with a truly diverse membership spanning the full breadth of UK soft power. The UK Soft Power Group aims to amplify the voice of the soft power sector and increase its centrality to Government strategic planning, emphasising the value of soft power as a foreign policy instrument.

UKSPG Members: Academy of Sport, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Ascot Racecourse, British Council, British Film Institute, British Foreign Policy Group, British Library, British Standards Institution, City of London, Coalition for Global Prosperity, Core Cities UK, The Jockey Club,  London Higher,  National Open College Network (NOCN),  Premier League, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (RBG Kew), Science Museum Group, UK Sport, Wellcome Trust, Wilton Park.

To learn more about the UK Soft Power Group, membership or this report, please contact eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk.

The post Strengthening UK Soft Power: Strategic Recommendations appeared first on British Foreign Policy Group.

Britons’ caution about the world around them does not translate into significant support for increased spending on national security or international development though, with Britons very concerned about the financial costs of any such uplift. Britons do, however, place significant emphasis on partnerships with the UK’s traditional allies, with Britons now overwhelmingly supporting a wide range of potential cooperation with the EU. Meanwhile, Britons are very concerned about the impact a second Trump term could have on the bilateral relationship, a relationship they value deeply.

Read the Full Report

Read the Executive Summary

Key Findings

– European Union: Britons are strongly supportive of a ‘reset’ of relations with the EU, such as cooperation to reduce irregular migration (77%), reducing barriers to trade (75%), and signing a UK-EU security pact (69%). Even among Leave voters, closer cooperation is widely endorsed, including reducing barriers to trade (69%) and signing a UK-EU security pact (57%). 

– United States: The United States is viewed as the UK’s closest ally (54%) but Britons are very apprehensive about a potential second Trump term, which Britons believe would have a negative effect on global security (54%), European security (50%) and UK-US relations (45%). 

– Defence Spending: While, at a surface level, Britons support (71%) increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP either now or over the next few years, the majority of Britons oppose increasing defence spending if it requires spending less on the NHS (64%), education (53%) or welfare (51%).

– Middle East: The majority (62%) of Britons distrust Israel to act responsibly in the world, just nine percentage points lower than the proportion of Britons who distrust China (71%). There is strong support among Britons for calling for an immediate ceasefire (71%), increasing aid to Gaza (52%), and to a lesser extent, for suspending arms sales to Israel (44%) and recognising a Palestinian state (43%).

– Ukraine: Britons’ support for Ukraine largely endures and a plurality (47%) of Britons believe the UK should support Ukraine for as long as it takes. Just 8% believe the UK should withdraw support from Ukraine.

– China: Britons are very cautious of engagement with China. Just 13% of Britons support allowing Chinese tech companies to operate in the UK, while only 8% support China building infrastructure in the UK, such as nuclear plants and 5G technology. 

– International Development: Britons are highly sceptical of the benefits the UK’s international development and aid programmes bring – 56% don’t believe it helps tackle irregular migration and 45% don’t believe it makes the UK safer. In turn, only 11% of Britons want to see an immediate return to spending 0.7% GNI on international development.

Media Enquiries:
eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk | 07884 375018

The post 2024 Annual Survey of UK Public Opinion on Foreign Policy appeared first on British Foreign Policy Group.

Robin MacKenzie, CEO of Strategy International, interviewed Evie Aspinall, Director of BFPG, and Seumas Kerr CBE, Managing Director of the D Group, about their initial views on the context and likely content of the review.

Our view is that a successful strategic defence review will need to be tied into a national growth agenda and aligned across the various departments within Whitehall. It will need to translated into a tangible and costed set of activities underpinned by clear accountabilities for delivery. Finally, we see this as an excellent opportunity for the defence industry and civil society to be involved in shaping recommendations and driving forward this key piece of our national agenda well into the future.

READ THE FULL REPORT

Media Enquiries:
eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk

The post The Strategic Defence Review: Challenges and Opportunities appeared first on British Foreign Policy Group.

The report explores how sanctions on Russia have not sufficiently constrained Moscow, which continues to gain revenues from trade in sanctioned goods. Moreover, sanctions and trade controls have enabled Russia to deepen economic relations with a number of countries, many of which are key ‘middle ground” powers, and some of which are nations explicitly hostile to the West, such as Iran and North Korea. Though the latter axis remains a significant threat to UK security, the report finds that the UK should be careful not to undermine its relationships with the ‘middle ground’ powers by maintaining a narrow focus on the sanctions issue, at the expense of broader strategic collaboration.

READ THE FULL REPORT

David Landsman, Senior Adviser at the British Foreign Policy Group, says: The argument for imposing sanctions is in some cases overwhelming. But making sanctions watertight can be far easier said than done, and have unforeseen impacts on relationships with countries which are increasingly important for our foreign policy. With this paper, we hope to provoke a debate on how to reconcile the urgent need to make sanctions bite, with the strategic exercise of “patient” diplomacy which the UK has rightly emphasised.

Media Enquiries:
eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk | 07884 375018

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The British Foreign Policy Group’s annual surveys of UK public opinion on foreign policy chart the key trends in public perceptions of the UK’s international activity, as Britons respond to an increasingly turbulent geopolitical environment. This year’s report was kindly supported by Integrity. Fieldwork involved a nationally representative sample of 2,158 people, conducted by J.L. Partners from 26th May – 1st June 2023. 

FULL REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Key Findings

– Ukraine: A majority (53%) of Britons believe the UK should provide assistance to Ukraine for as long as it takes, and there is little desire for the UK to immediately withdraw support from Ukraine (6%). Furthermore, the majority of Britons support all forms of aid being offered to Ukraine, including providing humanitarian assistance (85%), imposing economic sanctions on Russia (75%), accepting Ukrainian refugees (70%), providing military aid (68%) and providing F-16 fighter jets (56%).

– Defence: A majority (59%) of Britons support increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, either now or over the next few years. Meanwhile, support for retaining the UK’s membership of NATO is remarkably strong (78%), and has risen 11 percentage points over the last two years.

– European Union: With a renewed focus on the European security theatre and the signing of the Windsor Framework, Britons are increasingly warming to cooperation with the EU, and only a small fraction (5%) of Britons oppose all cooperation with the EU. Support is particularly high for reducing barriers to trade in goods and services with the EU (61%), which is even supported by a majority of Leave voters (58%).

– Alliances: Of the nations polled, the European Union (53%) is the most widely trusted nation in terms of its capacity and willingness to act responsibly in the world – above Ukraine (50%), the United States (48%) and France (46%). Strikingly, trust in France has fallen 9 percentage points over the last year, likely the result of ongoing debates about irregular Channel migration.

– China: While the Russian invasion of Ukraine has consumed significant bandwidth over the last year, Britons are still highly concerned about the threat posed by China, with 74% of Britons distrusting China. Just 15% of Britons believe Chinese tech companies such as TikTok should be allowed to operate in the UK.

– Migration: There is strong support for the UK Government’s current approach to migration – 54% of Britons support the UK’s Illegal Migration Bill, compared to 23% of Britons who oppose it.

– International Development: Despite the majority of Britons (55%) believing the UK has a moral duty to use aid and development to contribute to a more secure and prosperous world, they remain acutely concerned about the costs of international development spending – 61% of Britons believe international aid and development spending takes away money that should be spent on domestic needs and just 14% of Britons believe the UK should restore its 0.7% GNI spending commitment now.

– Climate Change: Support for UK leadership on climate change continues to grow, with 70% of Britons supporting the UK taking a leading international role in tackling climate change.

Media Enquiries:
eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk | 07884 375018

The post 2023 Annual Survey of UK Public Opinion on Foreign Policy and Global Britain appeared first on British Foreign Policy Group.

The UK’s deep stock of soft power assets place the UK in an enviable position in the soft power sphere, as an attractive, trusted international actor. However, the new report maps an increasingly competitive international arena, where allies and strategic rivals alike are increasingly encroaching on our traditional lead in soft power. Nonetheless, there is palpable appetite within the UK’s soft power sector to align and collaborate better with the Government, in order to strengthen the health of the soft power ecosystem, and maximise the UK’s soft power utility in supporting the UK’s international objectives. 

Merging the efforts of over 20 of the UK’s principal soft power assets, the report highlights substantial benefits the UK earns from its soft power and the importance of increasing collaboration between Government and soft power actors to enable the UK to achieve its international ambitions.

FULL REPORT

SUMMARY REPORT

With effort to avoid encouraging the overt instrumentalisation of soft power actors by the Government, the report suggests practical mechanisms to foster closer collaboration between a diverse independent sector and the Government:

Report Recommendations:

1. Establish a new Government-soft power engagement forum to aid connectivity and strategic thinking between Whitehall, devolved administrations and independent soft power actors.

2. Ensure that the Minister responsible for soft power is recognised as the cross-Government Soft Power Champion, supported by a team empowered to make targeted strategic interventions across Whitehall and beyond.

3. Introduce a light-touch Strategic Relationship Management System for soft power bodies to enhance connectivity across Whitehall.

4. Agree on planning horizons, resources and funding mechanisms, between Government and soft power actors to maximise their contribution to the UK’s international objectives.

5. Create light-touch mechanisms to increase connectivity between soft power actors and overseas Posts.

About the UKSPG

The UKSPG is co-convened by BFPG and the British Council, and is a network of UK soft power organisations, covering sectors from culture and sport, to accountancy and international development. Our members’ activities around the world contribute immensely to the international reputation and success of the UK, its nations and regions.

Contributing Members: Academy of Sport, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Ascot Racecourse, Association of British Orchestras, British Council, British Film Institute, British Foreign Policy Group, British Horseracing Authority, British Library, British Standards Institution, City of London, Coalition for Global Prosperity, Core Cities, Great British Racing International, HALO Trust, Ivors Academy, National Theatre Wales, Premier League, Science Museum Group, The Jockey Club, UK Sport, Universities UK and Wilton Park.

The post The Future of UK Soft Power: Building a Strategic Framework appeared first on British Foreign Policy Group.

READ THE REPORT HERE

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READ THE REPORT HERE

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