Britain’s military will remain tier one: min

May scolds Johnson

WASHINGTON, Aug 8, (Agencies): British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson insisted Tuesday that Britain’s military will not be diminished after it leaves the European Union next year.

“Britain leaving the European Union has no impact in terms of the security and defense of Europe,” Williamson said in a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

“Britain is a major global actor. We have always been a tier one military power and we always will be a tier one military power,” he added.

Williamson’s comments come after Prime Minister Theresa May in June reportedly declined to commit to saying Britain would remain a “tier one” military power in the future, amid ongoing uncertainty about Britain’s post-Brexit economy and international relationships.

In a speech largely aimed at convincing American counterparts that Britain remains a dependable partner despite the chaos surrounding Brexit negotiations, Williamson said that leaving the EU provided Britain with an opportunity to “redefine” its place in the world.

“In some ways, the European Union has limited our vision, discouraged us from looking to the horizon,” he said.

“Now we are being freed to reach further and aim higher. The UK Is determined to seize these new opportunities.” Williamson then met with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Pentagon. Mattis wrote to Williamson this summer urging Britain, which already meets the two percent of GDP spending pledge for NATO members, to kick in more cash or risk being supplanted by France as America’s closest military ally in Europe.

Mattis said the letter was “meant as an additive effort in support of our allies.”

Some observers in Britain suggested Williamson had solicited the letter to add ammunition to his calls for more

May

defense spending.

Mattis declined to say if Williamson had asked him to write the letter.

“This is the normal collaboration, the normal consultation between allies is what this is,” he said.

EU countries should continue extraditions to Britain until it leaves the bloc next year, despite claims that Brexit could cause uncertainty for suspects, the legal advisor to the union’s top court said Tuesday.

An Irish murder suspect appealed against a European Arrest Warrant on the grounds that Britain’s decision to quit the EU left unanswered questions over the arrangements for his transfer.

But the advocate general to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said that Britain’s June 2016 vote to leave had no bearing on such warrants so long as it remained part of the EU.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May has scolded her former foreign minister, Boris Johnson, for saying that Muslim women who wear burqas look like letter boxes or bank robbers.

Johnson, who resigned last month over the way May is negotiating Brexit, wrote in The Daily Telegraph this week that Denmark was wrong to ban the burqa, a head-to-toe cloak which conceals the face with a mesh or is worn in conjuction with the niqab - a face veil that leaves only the eyes exposed.

But Johnson also said the robe was oppressive, ridiculous and made women look like letter boxes and bank robbers, prompting an outcry from other politicians and British Muslim groups.

“I think Boris Johnson used language in describing people’s appearance that has obviously caused offence. It was the wrong language to use. He should not have used it,” May said. She added that women should be free to wear the burqa if they chose to do so.

Full-face coverings such as niqabs and burqas are a polarising issue across Europe, with some arguing that they symbolise discrimination against women and should be outlawed. The clothing has already been banned in France.