PM: Our future is East
UK needs to move from ailing EU economies to ‘roaring Asia’
BRITAIN must break i ts overreliance on trade with Europe and seek business in ‘far-flung lands’, David Cameron says today.
In an article for the Daily Mail, he said the UK should shift its focus towards the ‘roaring’ economies of the East.
The Prime Minister pledges to rediscover the heritage of ‘Elizabethan endeavour’, when British explorers crossed oceans to open up trade links.
He writes that Labour ignored the issue of trade outside Europe while in power, resulting in Britain’s share of global trade falling.
And he repeats his demands that Brussels must cut red tape and encourage competitiveness to foster trade with China, India and Brazil – pointing out that he will be making it part of his EU renegotiation deal ahead of an in/out referendum.
While the UK will never turn its back on European trade, Mr Cameron wants to boost business with emerging economies and the Commonwealth rather than ‘stagnating’ European states to generate jobs across all regions of Britain. The comments come ahead of a trade trip the Tory leader is making to South East Asia with a delegation of businessmen. He writes: ‘I think of the Age of Discovery, when our great explorers took to the waves to open up trade routes. No ter- ritory was too far. No opportunity was left untapped. We need to employ some of that Elizabethan endeavour today – to tell the world: “we’ve got the supply; you’ve got the demand; let’s do business”.’
Pledging to make Britain the most ‘trademinded nation in the world’, he says ‘the winds of economic change are blowing east’. Modern-day trading shouldn’t just be about the truckers going between Calais and Dover; it should be about the cargo planes landing in Jakarta and the container ships docking in Ho Chi Minh City,’ he writes.
Many Tory backbenchers will interpret the PM’s comments as a shot across the bows of the EU. The comments are significant because it has been the political consensus over the past 40 years that Britain is reliant on the access to the European market which EU membership grants.
Downing Street wants to reshape the argument, pointing out that with the rise of the so-called BRIC economies – Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and China – the UK needs to diversify its trade. Any sign that the UK is looking beyond Europe could strengthen his hand in his renegotiation process with Brussels. London mayor Boris Johnson has also argued that leaving the EU will not be disastrous for the UK as great opportunities are available in the rest of the world.
The latest figures show that change is already in the air. Sales of goods within the European Union fell by 13.4 per cent to £33.4billion over the last quarter, while those to the rest of the world rose 8.9 per cent to almost £40billion.
In his article, Mr Cameron describes South East Asia as a ‘region on the rise’ which is expected to be the world’s fourth largest single market in the world within the next 15 years. Since 2010, when he became Prime Minister, the value of goods sold to China and South Korea has doubled.
Downing Street said Europe would remain an important marketplace for the UK, but while countries such as Germany were experiencing growth, others were not.
Britain needs to do better at getting a share of the business in booming China and India. The middle class in China is growing by millions a year – and the UK needs to be ready to provide them with the goods they want, said a Number 10 spokesman.
‘Elizabethan endeavour’