What new polling reveals about the contrasting worldviews of voters in England and Scotland and their implications for the UK’s place in the world.

“England’s World: UK Foreign Policy in a Multi-Nation State” (2025), John Denham, Conor Gaughan and I explore whether “UK foreign policy” is an expression of England’s political dominance within the UK.

Although the UK presents itself internationally as a unitary state, it is a multi-nation union in which power and representation are unevenly distributed. England makes up over 80 per cent of the UK’s population and MPs.

With no separate English parliament, Westminster governs England directly, and through the Royal Prerogative the UK government controls most foreign and defence policy. Devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have little formal role.

This produces an Anglo-centric idea of Britain, in which England’s interests are often assumed to be those of the whole UK. Brexit made this starkly visible when England’s Leave majority took the UK out of the EU despite Remain votes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Our article begins by exploring how foreign policy issues become domestic political battlegrounds. This happens when foreign issues are seen to affect everyday life; when they connect with questions of national identity; when they divide the electorate; when they test government competence; and when political movements exploit them for electoral advantage.

Brexit met all five of these requirements. For many English voters, questions of sovereignty, immigration and economic control became the prism through which they viewed Britain’s relationship with the EU.

However, while a post-referendum vision of a “Global Britain” promised a confident, outward-looking nation, we found limited public enthusiasm for this idea. Polling in 2023 and 2024 in England and Scotland showed voters in both nations in favour of pragmatic cooperation, economic resilience and regulated trade over extremes of unilateral protectionism or deregulated globalisation.

Crucially, the data reveals three broad dimensions shaping public attitudes: sovereignty, Atlanticism, and the UK’s role in the world.

English respondents show stronger sovereigntist and Atlanticist leanings, meaning they favour national independence and close ties with the United States. Meanwhile Scottish respondents are more positive about cooperation with Europe and more sceptical about nuclear weapons.

Across both nations, the divide between Leave and Remain voters remains a powerful predictor of opinion. Former Leave voters support independence and economic nationalism, whereas Remainers lean towards multilateralism, climate leadership and humanitarian engagement.

We conclude that to understand UK foreign policy we must understand the UK’s internal politics. England’s structural and political dominance defines the UK’s global stance, even when its preferences diverge from those of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Differences of opinion over Europe, nuclear weapons and climate change could open constitutional and political divisions. A foreign policy made “through English eyes” carries implications not only for Britain’s place in the world but also for the future cohesion of the Union itself.

The full article is: Denham, J., Gaughan, C., & Oliver, T. (2025). England’s World: UK Foreign Policy in a Multi-Nation State. Politics, 1–24, and can be read here.