This poll shows Starmer is wrong about Europe and the USA

It seems that the British public have more sense than the British prime minister.

Earlier this week, Sir Keir Starmer told the great and the good that he “utterly rejected” the idea that the UK must choose between the United States and Europe. Now a poll for Best for Britain has found that UK voters utterly reject the idea that we can trust Donald Trump.

More ordinary Brits think we share similar values with the EU than with the USA, and trust the EU and even Japan more than Washington. Even more impressive is the fact that voters who abandoned the Tory Party for Labour at the general election are even more emphatic in their support for closer EU ties. So much for that fear of the Red Wall.

Only 19% of those polled think our economic future lies with the United States, 44% know it is with the EU. Half trust the EU, under a third trust the USA, and it is hardly likely that Trump can improve that rating – not when he is threatening to let Russia win in Ukraine and declare a trade war on his allies, including us.

Oh, and you can forget all rubbish about those developing countries that we are suddenly going to “swivel’ towards as part of the new Global Britain, when it comes to trust none of them make it into double figures, and quite rightly too. It seems all that Tory/Telegraph/Tufton Street tosh about the Pacific being the future has failed to make any impression on the common sense of the common man and woman, it makes me rather proud of the country’s collective judgement.

The government might think that our geographical position between the continent and America means that somehow we can play both off against each other, but the public knows we are much closer to the continent, and not just physically. A Trump presidency also means we are going to have to jump one way or the other soon or later.

As Lord Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to the USA puts it, “The US is an invaluable British ally but by definition, the government cannot prioritise trade with both America and the EU, a strategy that risks delivering the worst of all worlds. Recent history suggests that Trump responds to strength and there is strength in numbers.”

The Tory and Reform fetishists who somehow think that Trump is their friend and the presidential election results show they have jumped the right way, are totally wrong. Trump’s re-election makes it all too clear that Brexit was a leap in the dark, and one that has ended with a catastrophic collapse in our capacity to stand up to him, we are just an easy victim for Trump and his mad policies.

Just when we needed the support of Europe and of our friends and neighbours, just when we needed to be in a large economy of like-minded nations, in favour of free trade and support for freedom, we find ourselves alone and weakened.

Even worse, we still are burdened with governments that cling to the sad idea of a “special relationship”, like scared children holding onto nanny’s apron strings.

The people have the sense to see what is really happening in the world, they are the realistic ones. How about trusting them and leading, for a change?