England’s world: UK foreign policy in a multi-nation state

John Denham (Southampton), Conor Gaughan (Southampton), Tim Oliver (Loughborough)

UK foreign policy is the product of the politics of a multi-nation state. Because of its size, politics and position in the constitutional imagination of UK decision makers, England dominates policy-making. Brexit showed how that domination can cause difficulties and tensions within the UK when a foreign policy issue becomes a domestic issue where English opinion is at odds with other parts of the UK. Despite this, analysis of English views and influence over the UK’s foreign policy remains under-developed. In this article, we outline the mechanisms by which England dominates UK foreign policy and how foreign policy issues can become domestic electoral issues, as happened with Brexit. We examine polling of the views of voters in England and Scotland to identify potential areas of disagreement. We show that while the English and Scottish do not hold profoundly different world views, there are some foreign policy issues that could be mobilised as domestic electoral issues causing division and tensions for the UK.

Denham, J., Gaughan, C., & Oliver, T. (2025). England’s world: UK foreign policy in a multi-nation state. Politics, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957251365838