One in three Germans don't trust Britain as Brexit fallout hits new heights – shock poll

world news Angela Merkel

Germany’s GDP has crumbled as the country faces the threat of recession (Image: Getty)

The survey showed that just 37 percent or around one-in-three people in Germany consider Britain to be a trustworthy partner, 17 percentage points down on February’s figure. Some 59 percent of those surveyed also said that Germany could no longer trust Britain as the Brexit fallout continues. 

Despite being in office for a little over a week, new Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also attacked by respondents. 

Two-thirds of participants believe the relationship between the European Union and Britain will deteriorate under the new leader. 

Mr Johnson has been clear that he will pull Britain out of the EU with or without a deal on October 31 and has vowed to not pay the £39billion Brexit divorce bill if a no deal exit arises. 

His hard approach has gone down well in the UK as the Conservatives rose in the opinion polling to crush Labour and the Brexit Party. 

uk politics Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has said he will pull the UK out of the EU on Halloween (Image: Reuters)

world news Angela Merkel

The German leader also faces opposition at home as a poll shows just one-third back her (Image: Reuters)

Mr Johnson’s Tories also finished just short of holding onto the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election despite pollsters predicting a clear win for the Liberal Democrats. 

The so-called ‘Boris bounce’ has seen the Conservative Party bounce back from a shocking run which saw the Tories suffer their worst nationwide election result in May’s European elections. 

But his approach has not been met so enthusiastically in Germany, with just three percent of respondents saying that relations will improve under the new leader. 

READ MORE: Merkel on brink as Germany economy in freefall, ‘heading for a crisis’

uk politics Boris Johnson

Britain is Germany’s seventh largest trade partner (Image: PA)

The poll, conducted by ARD DeutschlandTrend, surveyed 1,003 voters across the country. 

France came back as one of the nation’s favourite countries, with 89 percent of German’s saying they trust their neighbouring country. 

But Britain was not the only nation to see declines, with Germany’s trust of Russia falling by seven percentage points to 28 percent, while just 19 percent see the USA as a partner to trust, down 5 percentage points from just months ago. 

Angela Merkel and German figures have previously insisted that the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated. 

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uk politics nigel farage

The leader has said the Withdrawal Agreement must be scrapped (Image: Getty)

world news Michael Roth

Michael Roth (left) has said he does not wish to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement (Image: Getty)

Michael Roth, the country’s EU affairs minister, said: “I don’t see any chances to renegotiate the package, the Withdrawal Agreement is the Withdrawal Agreement, and I don’t see any appetite to start new negotiations within the European Union.”

But, Tory leadership contender Jeremy Hunt claimed that Ms Merkel was up for negotiation in a TV interview in the run-up to the final ballot. 

He said that in a conversation with the German Chancellor, Ms Merkel said she would look at proposals made by a new Prime Minister to break the deadlock. 

Figures from the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce show a breakdown in trade between the two countries in the wake of no deal Brexit fears. 

world news Germany

The country’s GDP has crumbled (Image: Express)

Trade between the two countries has fallen dramatically, with German firms exporting €35billion worth of goods to the UK in the first half of this year, down 2.3 percent on the previous year. 

Meanwhile, imports from the UK fell by 6.1 percent, with the UK now ranked seventh among the countries most important trading partners. 

A no deal exit would result in around 1.2 million job losses across the continent, with 291,930 German workers set to lose their jobs if Britain pulls out without an agreement. 

The figures come in the wake of the ongoing German financial crisis, which has seen the nation’s industry take a massive hit. 

world news Emmanuel Macron

German respondents said France was a country they could trust (Image: Getty)

The countries GDP rate is tumbling at a tremendous rate, while unemployment numbers rose for the first time in five months, 

Germany’s manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) dropped from 45 to 43.1 in just one month due to a large decline in export orders. 

The shocking fall has seen the German Chancellor lose the confidence of her people, with a Berlin poll showing that just 32 percent of 1,503 respondents saying they were satisfied with her work. 

Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg.

source: express.co.uk