Labour members see US as less friendly to Britain than China, poll reveals

Labour members consider the United States to be less friendly to the UK than China, exclusive polling for LabourList has revealed.

The poll, conducted by Survation, found that party members gave America a net friendliness score of -53, lower than China at -47.

It comes amid continued strained relations with the Trump administration in the United States, with the President previously criticising Britain’s approach to the war in Iran, the Chagos Islands and the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

Trump has also hit the UK and other close allies with a range of tariffs, although Britain has managed to negotiate exemptions for certain industries, like whisky.

Despite recent tensions, however, Donald Trump praised Andy Burnham after the pair met for the first time in New York last week.

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Trump said Burnham would be a “great” Prime Minister and said his relationship with Britain is “more up” than under Keir Starmer.

He said: “I think you’re up. They’re more now than they were with your last Prime Minister, let me put it that way. I think right now, based on my relationship with your Prime Minister, Andy, I think we’re doing very well.”

Party members ranked Canada as the most friendly of ten nations polled at +99, followed closely behind by Ukraine, France, Australia and Germany. At the opposite end of the scale, Russia was ranked the lowest with a score of -95.

Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation, said: “Labour members now rate the United States as less friendly to Britain than China, for a governing party’s membership, it is a remarkable place for perceptions of the transatlantic relationship to have reached.

“The gap between Washington and the countries that Labour members see as genuine allies is enormous – Canada, Ukraine, France, Australia and Germany all score above +90.”

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Survation, a member of the British Polling Council and a Market Research Society Partner, surveyed 1,073 readers of LabourList who also said they were Labour Party members between September 19 and 22.

Data was weighted to the profile of Labour Party Members. Data were weighted by region, sex, age group and 2025 deputy leadership vote. Targets for weighting were drawn from the British Election Study and the result of the 2025 deputy leadership election.

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