Post-Brexit Britain has a golden opportunity to lead on bringing the Commonwealth back together – specifically the Realm countries like Australia and Canada – as the Donald Trump tariffs bite. For years dismissed as an irrelevant hangover of empire, the economic and security benefits of greater Commonwealth unity are becoming more evident by the day. Setting aside the Commonwealth republics for a moment, how absurd is it that the UK is not united with states with which it shares a head of state and commander-in-chief in Charles III?
Can we imagine that if the King of Spain was still the monarch of countries across Latin America that Madrid would have simply thrown its lot in with a sclerotic EU? Post-Brexit, with a newly-coronated monarch, and with the economic uncertainty of this high tariff era – not to mention the threat of war in Asia as global defence spending ramps up – now is surely the time for a Commonwealth family reunion.
Geography has never mattered less than in this era – one in which cultural proximity trumps physical proximity – and economically complimentary states spread across the planet surely affords immense defence and economic benefits.
The EU is yesterday’s news for Britain. If we wanted confirmation of this, just note the recent announcement that the EU will exclude the UK from its €150bn rearmament fund.
Reform UK could do a lot worse than champion what – if unified – would be the world’s largest polity and third largest economy, and that is before including Commonwealth republics like India, Malaysia and Singapore.
Commonwealth union – not least a CANZUK union between Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK – really should be a cross-party no-brainer for the British. What exactly does the UK have to lose?
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