Reform Supporters Oppose Sending British Troops To Ukraine As Peacekeepers
Those intending to vote for Nigel Farage's Reform party are the least likely to support UK peacekeeping troops being sent to Ukraine (Alamy)
4 min read
Reform UK voters buck the national trend of supporting British troops being sent to Ukraine as peacekeepers, according to new polling.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month that the UK was willing to put "boots on the ground and planes in the air" to deter Russia from launching further attacks against Ukraine.
Although doubts have been raised — including by former defence minister James Heappey — as to whether the UK has the military and financial capabilities to protect Ukraine, there is widespread public support for such a move.
When Savanta surveyed 2,296 people over the weekend (7-9 March), 40 per cent said they supported British soldiers being stationed in Ukraine as peacekeepers in the event of a peace deal being reached between Ukraine and Russia. 28 per cent opposed it.
Respondents who intend to vote Labour (55 per cent over 21), Tory (52 per cent over 20), Lib Dem (46 per cent over 19) and Green (54 per cent over 22) all supported the proposal.
However, when it comes to people who plan to back Nigel Farage's party, 52 per cent said they opposed the move, compared to 25 per cent who supported it.
Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said the findings demonstrated that Reform voters “ don’t want to know” unless “policies directly benefit the British Isles”.
“Any lingering sense that these are just Tories in disguise is wrong,” he told PoliticsHome.
“They do not believe, in the way that traditional Conservatives might, that the UK has a major role to play in policing the world, and unless UK involvement in Ukraine has an immediate and obvious benefit on home soil, it’s unlikely that this set of voters will ever be convinced that even the most light-touch military intervention is a worthwhile cause.”
Supporters of Wales' Plaid Cymru were also opposed to British troops being sent to Ukraine as peacekeepers, by 40 per cent to 25, according to Savanta.
Starmer is attempting to play a lead role in the European response to Ukraine.
The Prime Minister is trying to act as a "bridge" between allies on the continent and the Donald Trump US administration, while at the same time convening European governments that are ready to contribute militarily to the defence of a Ukrainian peace deal.
This weekend Starmer will host a virtual meeting of the "coalition of the willing" countries after Ukraine on Tuesday agreed to a 30-day ceasefire deal put forward by the US.
After weeks of this intense diplomacy, including a trip to Washington to meet Trump and hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 10 Downing Street, the poll found public approval for Starmer's handling of peace talks up to now.
Over half of respondents (55 per cent) said Starmer has handled the talks well, while 30 per cent said he had handled them badly.
78 per cent of people who intend to vote Labour said he has handled the talks well, as did a majority of people who intend to vote Tory (60 per cent), Lib Dem (70 per cent) and Green (51 per cent).
Reform supporters, however, said Starmer has handled them badly, by 54 per cent to 38.
By 57 per cent to 27, people said that Ukraine's leader Zelensky had handled talks over the future of his country well.
When it comes to Trump, however, nearly two thirds of people (62 per cent) said he had handled them badly, while 29 per cent said the US president had handled them well.
A third of respondents (33 per cent) told Savanta they had developed a more positive view of Prime Minister Starmer since his recent meetings with Trump and Zelensky.
However, according to Hopkins many of these respondents were more likely to have already had a favourable view of the PM.
“He’s still struggling to convince those that don’t like him that his foreign policy exploits are worth changing their mind, and the reservations that many – including those that voted Labour less than a year ago – have about his domestic policy agenda are unlikely to be eased significantly by his international prowess,” he said.
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