PM flies to Middle East on quest to bolster links outside Europe

The Prime Minister’s trip to the kingdom should further new trade deals and benefit security, too

THERESA MAY will today embark on a highly symbolic trade and security mission to the Middle East as part of her plan for a “bold, confident future” for post-Brexit Britain.

Just five days after invoking Article 50 to begin the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the Prime Minister will send a clear message to Europe – and to the British public – that ministers are “seizing the opportunities ahead” for trade with the rest of the world.

Europe’s most powerful leaders have made it clear to Mrs May that a trade deal will not be discussed until the terms of the so-called “divorce bill” for leaving the EU are agreed.

Hardliners have even said there will be no trade talks until Britain quits the EU in 2019.

Mrs May has responded by dispatching ministers all over the globe. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, will visit India with Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, while Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, will tour other Asian countries.

Mrs May will fly to Jordan today before spending two days in Saudi Arabia. Downing Street said the Prime Minister would “explore ways of boost- ing our already strong” trade links with the two countries.

Saudi Arabia is the UK’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East, with £6.6 billion of goods and services exported in 2015.

Mrs May said yesterday: “There is so much we can do together on trade, with immense potential for Saudi in- vestment to provide a boost to the British economy.”

Both Saudi Arabia and Jordan have defence contracts with British companies, and Mrs May will announce that military trainers will be sent to Jordan to help in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Under the plans, training will be carried out in Jordan and Britain to help the country’s air force improve its capability to strike Isil targets.

Ahead of the visit, Mrs May linked security and trade repeatedly. She said: “We must look at the challenges that we, and future generations, will face and build stronger partnerships with countries that will be vital to both our security and our prosperity.”

She said it was “clearly in the UK’s security and prosperity interests to support Jordan and Saudi Arabia” in creating stability in the region.

Theresa May’s first visit to Saudi Arabia as Prime Minister serves as a timely reminder of the many exciting opportunities that could be on offer to Britain as the Government sets about negotiating our withdrawal from the EU.

Inevitably, the announcement that Mrs May has chosen Riyadh as her first overseas destination after triggering Article 50 will prompt criticism from human rights activists and the Left, who want Britain to cut military ties with the Saudis over allegations its military has committed war crimes in Yemen.

But the fact that the Prime Minister, alongside other senior ministers who are embarking on overseas trade missions this week, is already looking to do business far and wide on the world stage sends an unequivocal signal to the EU that Britain is more than capable of forging its destiny beyond the Continent – a defiant message all the more vital to communicate after Spain’s unseemly diplomatic moves over Gibraltar.

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, is travelling to India to promote financial technology, while the International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, is due to hold talks in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. It is Mrs May’s trip to Saudi Arabia, though, that is arguably the most significant, as it demonstrates the Prime Minister’s commitment to investing in Britain’s long-standing alliance with the Saudis and other Gulf states.

She has personal experience of the importance of Britain’s relationship with the Saudis from the six years she spent as home secretary, where part of her brief was to oversee the operations of MI5, the domestic security service. Over the years, Saudi intelligence officials have provided information that has helped to thwart a number of major terrorist attacks against Britain, including the plot to blow up flights from Heathrow to the US. Consequently, Mrs May developed a good working relationship with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s powerful interior minister and Crown Prince, who himself narrowly escaped being killed in an al-Qaeda inspired terrorist attack in 2009.

But the Prime Minister’s visit is about a lot more than discussing improved security cooperation.

The Saudis are embarking on an ambitious plan to transform their economy from its current heavy dependence on the oil sector. As part of the country’s “Saudi Vision 2030” project, the brainchild of Saudi Arabia’s energetic Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudis are planning to spend trillions of dollars developing a whole range of new industries and technologies. The project will create a wealth of opportunities for Western companies as the Saudis strive to develop a selfsufficient economy, and countries like France have already struck a number of lucrative deals.

Despite our record of being a long-standing ally of the Saudi royal family, however, Britain is lagging behind in the race for new trade deals. Saudi officials privately complain that London has in recent years been “neglectful” of Saudi Arabia and the other neighbouring states, and that the Foreign Office has appeared more interested in forging better relations with Iran than looking after its traditional allies in the Gulf.

The Saudis are also angry with what they regard as the unfair criticism they have received from human rights groups and Left-wing activists over their conduct of the military campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But, as General James Mattis, the new US Defence Secretary, made clear following his meeting with defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon, the West is rapidly losing patience with Iran, which Mr Mattis accused of being the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

So if America and Britain are to take a more robust approach to Tehran, then it makes sense for them to forge closer ties with the Saudis and the other Gulf states, which are constantly under threat from Iranian acts of aggression. And, so far as post-Brexit Britain is concerned, having closer ties with the Saudis also offers a new world of economic opportunity outside the confines of the EU.