Brexit: A Grand New 'Global Britain'? What is the UK's Global Position Outside the EU? - TLDR News

[Music] hello and welcome to another tl dr brexit explained video brexit might sometimes feel like a process of withdrawal not only britain's withdrawal from the european union but also britain taking a back seat on the global stage cutting itself off and looking inwards however some brexiteers including the prime minister have attempted to counter this narrative according to them brexit will allow the uk to be unshackled from the eu strike whatever deals it wants with other nations and become a truly independent global nation so the question is what power does britain actually have and can i become a global leader or is this just a patriotic fantasy the british government aren't the only ones trying to go global though but unlike number 10 we're not just all talk so we've started the tldr global channel for a while now we've been posting international videos right here but this is the tldi uk channel so they've needed their own home from now on the majority of our global content will be sat over there with the first video on how coverts spread around the world featuring this rather captivating visualization available right now check out the video and subscribe to the new channel by clicking the link in the description britain's place in the world has for decades been a difficult question and one that brits themselves aren't that well equipped to answer britain certainly doesn't struggle when it comes to self-belief with many brits still thinking of britain as the world war winning industrial revolution starting empire of old however times have moved on and despite a clear nostalgia for perceived past glories the question is what britain really thinks it is one problem is that britain can't even decide what it thinks about itself ipsos mori asks brits whether britain should stop pretending to be an important power in the world and there was a clear disagreement while more people did think that britain should stop pretending to be important the 38-28 split isn't the most decisive another ipsos poll conducted for the economist found that 65 of brits agreed that britain was in decline with 57 of young people expecting they'll have a worse life in britain than their parents did as you might expect there is more optimism on the leave side than romaine with around 75 percent of remainers saying that the country's in decline versus 55 of levers with a similar split mirrored down labor conservative lines too as i say though it's broadly unsurprising that brexiteer tories are likely to feel more optimistic after all their leader is pretty much the anti-declinist in chief repeatedly asserting that britain will succeed outside of europe emphasizing that british comeback is just around the corner the uk certainly does hold a lot of influence even separate from the eu and europe more generally from a military perspective the uk is one of the countries with the highest defense spending in the world it has nuclear weapons and besides the us whose military spending is unbelievable the uk is the biggest spender in nato too the uk is also a big spender when it comes to foreign aid historically sending 0.7 of gdp on foreign aid something that marks the uk as a global moral leader as well as giving the country vast soft powers speaking of which the uk also gains soft powers through its scientific and research capability as exemplified by the uk's work on the oxford astrazeneca vaccine and the fact that the country is home to some of the world's most respected universities the uk is also a cultural force with british music films and tv popular across the world and the nation's favorite game football gives the country a global presence through institutions like the premier league so it's clear that there are areas where the uk really does lead the world and to be fair looking forward to the rest of 2021 specifically there's good reason to see why johnson sees britain having a global impact the uk is set to take the presidency of the g7 which allows them to set the group's agenda for the annual summit as well as giving them the power to invite other countries with australia india and south korea expected to join the uk could be setting the stage for a new d10 group of major global democracies on top of that the uk has other hosting responsibilities including glasgow holding the cop26 climate conference in november the uk does still have its feet under the table at some important clubs then like the g7 g20 nato and a permanent seat at the un security council but leaving the eu does very clearly limit the uk's diplomatic powers when it comes to the transatlantic relationship while britain was a member of the eu it regularly acted as a conduit between the us and europe britain was the white house's first stop when it needed insight and discussion about european matters it's now clear that with the uk gone the biden administration won't have this option with germany very likely already to become the us's go-to when it comes to european nations and while the uk does maintain a good amount of power and influence through the things i mentioned earlier the military foreign aid and investment science and academia culture and sport there's a good reason to think that the uk's presence is waning it's easy to get caught up in a vision of a global britain especially when romanticizing the country's past often forgetting the horror of britain's historical power but there's currently not much evidence that the conservative promise holds much weight besides being yet another powerful tory catchphrase with kovid hitting britain harder than any other european nation in part due to mismanagement of the crisis as well as the impact of brexit britain really needs to focus on ensuring its economic future is bright because ultimately a lot of the uk's power comes down to money let's look at that list again military spending foreign aid spending and investments huge investment in science and r d and even when it comes to culture the government gives hundreds of millions of pounds worth of tax reliefs to creative industries including a huge payment to british film each year now we're not saying that any of these things are good or bad and i'm not proposing we funnel the budget of james bond and the actual mi5 or anything in fact we can talk about military spending and foreign aid another day in fact we did talk about foreign aid in a different video but the point is that ultimately it's money that allows modern britain to punch above its weight with kovid and brexit hitting the uk hard money's a little tight at the moment and unfortunately it's expected to get worse at least in the short term while the brexit deal that was struck by the uk and eu meant that lorry pileups and shop shortages didn't materialize at least not for long the impact of increased trade friction is already beginning to show with some businesses limiting or even stopping their uk eu trade in part because of this it's predicted that while the uk economy will begin to grow again in 2022 the nation's growth rate will lag behind the rest of europe with the bank of england's projections showing that britain will be around three to four percentage points smaller in 2030 than if they had remained part of the block now there is certainly an argument to be made that due to brexit the uk will be able to revitalize their economy and beat the bank of england's pretty bleak predictions it's certainly possible that johnson's government could deliver on their promises and grow the uk economy leading to a boost in britain's economic and political power but in the short term things do look more worrying even if you deny the bank's predictions and think that the uk will thrive economically longer term the reality is that in the short to medium term a combination of brexit and covid will likely hit the uk harder than the majority of countries with an uncertain economic future the real question is whether the uk can keep up this spending in fact already when it's come to foreign aid the uk has had to cut its spending for the first time in years so cracks are already beginning to emerge and this kind of thing becomes a catch-22 very quickly in order to be taken seriously and improve the economy the uk wants to pitch itself as a global leader in order to be a global leader the uk needs to spend money to gain and increase influence with brexit and kovid both hurting the uk economy this spending begins to look more difficult which could start a bit of a downward spiral maybe that's exactly what those declineists feared britain's political situation also doesn't help combining with the economic woes the uk government's chaotic response to the covert outbreak and the proliferation of the virus in the country won't have done much to inspire international confidence especially following years of floundering brexit negotiations the international perception of a britain tearing itself apart won't be helped by growing calls for scottish independence which would quite literally tear the uk in two so maybe that's why a big chunk of britain thinks that the uk should step back the uk certainly has a strong and important presence on the international stage our historic connections to nations around the world will always make the uk an interesting and relevant nation the question is whether post-pandemic and likely more importantly post-brexit the uk has the will the money and the power to become a truly global and powerful country once again or if these brits are right and the uk should accept a new place in the world focusing on local and regional concerns let us know your thoughts in the comments below should the uk keep up its global pretenses and really invest in making itself a global superpower or is the uk better off changing its aspirations let us know in the comments below also remember to check out and subscribe to our new channel tldr global it's linked in the description we really appreciate 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Channel: TLDR News

Views: 243,430

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Id: cGb9aA4tlY8

Length: 10min 25sec (625 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 14 2021