Post-Brexit Britain should be ready to use “hard power” - defence minister

LONDON, (Reuters) - Britain should be ready to use military force to support its global interests after Brexit, defence minister Gavin Williamson will say today, adding that the boundaries between peace and war are becoming blurred.

Williamson will outline plans to send its new aircraft carrier to the Pacific, invest in offensive cyber capabilities and adopt a harder military stance after Brexit than it has done in recent years.

“Brexit has brought us to a great moment in our history. A moment when we must strengthen our global presence, enhance our lethality, and increase our mass,” Williamson will say in a speech in London.

He will describe the boundaries between peace and war as becoming “blurred” and say that Britain and its allies had to be ready “to use hard power to support our interests”.

Britain is in the midst of its most severe political crisis since World War Two as Prime Minister Theresa May scrambles to find a last-minute agreement on leaving the European Union with only weeks until it is due to end over four decades of political and economic integration in Europe.

Brexit has been seen as a blow to the West, already struggling to assimilate Russian and Chinese power as well as Donald Trump’s unpredictable U.S. presidency. Brexit supporters hail it as a chance for Britain to take on a new global role.