'Global Britain' agenda - will it stand the test of time?

It has been a while coming, and with minds focused on overcoming the COVID pandemic this is understandable, but we now have the first comprehensive review since Brexit which sets out the UK Government’s ambition for Britain in the world. Some aspects are laudable, others questionable. Here I set out a few perspectives on some of the review’s key elements.

“A European country with global interests”

The reference to ‘European’ in this statement struck me as an attempt to placate readers potentially still reeling from Brexit and its enduring consequences, and yet the immutable geographic reality of any country makes such a precision somewhat redundant, just as if Japan felt the need to assert it was Asian. Some things do not need to be stated, and raise quizzical eyebrows when they are. I would also struggle to name any country in the world that does not have ‘global interests’, again raising the question of what makes this a particularly British trait?

These minor yet symbolic points notwithstanding, there is much sense in what this section of the review outlines: the UK will still have an important role to play in Europe’s collective security interests; political and economic cooperation with European partners will of course continue to be of great importance, both bilaterally and multilaterally; beyond Europe, long-standing and deep alliances with the USA and others should indeed be sustained and strengthened.

And yet when it comes to the way in which countries pursue their global interests, Britain is adopting a novel, even questionable approach. This then leads to the review’s following subsection on the ‘Indo-Pacific tilt.’ In and of itself, a strengthened focus on some of the fastest-growing populations and economies on the planet is a wise and good move, and yet when it comes down to specific policies, their underlying motives need to be questioned: for example, should seeking to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) be a priority for a Government that has yet to resolve many vital aspects of its services trading relationship with the EU? That the UK is the only candidate country in an alliance of purely Pacific rim countries is open to questions and interpretations galore. For example, it this one of many signs of Global Britain’s novel and innovative approaches to international trade – one that challenges perhaps dated geography-based norms and assumptions of multilateral partnerships? Or is it a sign of a Government eagerly searching out new distant pastures because it has sowed some bad seeds closer to home?

And yet geography still matters. Even in an area of unparalleled interconnectivity where some services can be traded across the planet at lighting speed, goods on which we all depend still have seas, skies and landmasses to cross. Global Value Chains (GVCs) are set to be slightly less global than they were pre-pandemic, as multinationals seek an increasingly regionalised approach to secure their supply chains. As consumers, an increasing number of us are also likely to value environmentally-friendly sources of at least certain fast-moving goods. None of this is to undermine the appetite for products from around the world – in many ways, global trade makes our lives richer and more diverse, but where practical options do exist – for example, does a British consumer buy steak from Argentina or Aberdeenshire – a growing trend towards sustainable and environmentally-friendly localisation (and localism) would appear inexorable. Similarly, I suspect many British fishermen would wish they could continue to sell sustained supplies of shellfish to European buyers across the English Channel, as opposed to lofty and at times unpredictable and unreliable prospects of sending their crabs on jumbo jets halfway around the world.

This links to one of the review’s other core tenets – global leadership on tackling climate change. Here, the UK has many credentials and can speak from a position of relative strength (some arguable inconsistencies notwithstanding): the UK is now reportedly halfway towards hitting its carbon neutral target by 2050[1]; it is the world leader in offshore wind power generation, and renewables now generate more of the country’s energy than fossil fuels. Attributes such as these will enable the UK to speak with authority as it hosts the COP26 Summit later this year, and its role as a global leader in encouraging practical next steps on climate change mitigation can translate into both trade and investment benefits for the UK.

More recently, the UK has shown the world its leadership role in confronting other global challenges: it has been an international leader in the development and deployment of life-saving vaccines, while the country’s genomic sequencing capabilities are second to none.

Leadership and control:

The emotional appeal of Brexit for many can be summed up in the simplistic yet powerful phrase that arguably ensured its victory: “take back control”. But to what extent is any country – EU member or not – fully in control of its own destiny? The challenges where the UK is now playing a leading role in fighting are also ones that presuppose inter-dependence and multilateralism in order to be solved. In quitting the most advanced multilateral club in the world, the UK is indisputably a world leader in that it is the first country in the world to have gone against the long-term global tide of integration in such a dramatic way. But will this ‘leader’ have any followers? There’s no compelling evidence to suggest this so far.

Brexit as a journey is of course only in its early stages. The exit may have happened, but we are only in the foothills. Time will tell whether any of the claimed substantial dividends truly materialise, and if so how many – including the number and, as importantly, quality of trade deals.   

In the meantime, the authors of the Global Britain will probably be hoping that the tangible achievements of Britain’s companies, innovators, scientists, researchers other leading lights can bring some substance to the words they have written.

[1] As reported by The Times on 18 March 2021.