Welcome to the 50th Cable, our weekly roundup of British foreign and defence policy.
Last week, Britain’s Labour government celebrated its first anniversary in power after winning a landslide victory in the 2024 general election. With a large majority and the first handover of power in 14 years, there was hope that the new government could reinvigorate the United Kingdom (UK), both domestically and internationally. Looking at His Majesty’s (HM) Government’s report card after one year, the results are mixed. Attempts to boost the economy and invest in defence are welcome, and show promise of greater achievements in the coming years, but limited fiscal headroom and rising borrowing costs have left much to be desired. Meanwhile, a concerted campaign to engage more with allies and partners across the globe has seen tangible results, in particular in improved relations with the European Union (EU) and maintaining close ties with the United States (US) under the Trump administration.
However, domestic constraints coupled with the worsening geopolitical and global economic environment have undermined the ability of HM Government to achieve its key political aims – a challenge that looks set to stay for the rest of the decade and into the 2030s. In this new era, a clearer sense of narrative, bolder leadership and, crucially, a willingness to resource defence, will be key to Britain’s success in a more dangerous and complex world.
Welcome back to The Cable!
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister, held a call with Emmanuel Macron, President of France, on 5th July. The two leaders discussed the upcoming UK-France summit, which will be held on Thursday 10th July, with Sir Keir and Macron agreeing to make progress on a wide range of joint priorities, including migration, economic growth and security. The Prime Minister also stated that he looks forward to Macron’s three-day state visit to Britain which begins on 8th July; the first state visit by a French President since 2008.
HM Government re-established diplomatic relations with Syria over the weekend. At the same time, David Lammy flew to Damascus to meet with Ahmed al-Sharaa and Assad al-Shaibani, Interim President of Syria and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates respectively, for the first ministerial meeting between the UK and Syria in 14 years. While in Syria, Lammy announced a new £94.5 million aid package for the country, emphasising that Britain will support the Syrian Government to deliver its commitments to build a more secure and prosperous future for Syrians, increasing security in the wider region and in the UK.
The UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) organisation was formally established on 1st July, aiming to be the ‘focal point’ for innovation within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) while also streamlining the delivery of innovative technology to Armed Forces personnel. UKDI will continue to develop over the next year to secure the ‘optimal structure needed to achieve its long-term ambitions’. It is expected to be fully operational by July 2026.
On 7th July, the new headquarters for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) International Government Organisation (GIGO) was opened in Reading by Maria Eagle MP, Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry. The new multinational headquarters will help to deliver GCAP, and will be home to Edgewing, the recently launched joint venture between BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd, which will lead the design and development of the next-generation combat aircraft.
Peter Kyle, Science and Technology Secretary, has called in a letter for the Alan Turning Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to refocus AI research towards defence and security. He added that boosting the UK’s AI capabilities was ‘critical’ to national security. In the decade since it was set up, the Alan Turing Institute’s work has focused on research in three main areas – environmental sustainability, health and national security. The call for greater focus on defence follows the release of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) last month, which stated that AI ‘would provide greater accuracy, lethality, and cheaper capabilities’.
Last week, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) published two renewable energy strategies to boost its objective for Britain to become a ‘clean energy superpower’ and hit 95% clean power by 2030.
On 30th June, the Solar Roadmap, detailing ‘radical reforms’ to the deployment of solar energy across the UK, was published. It has a target of delivering 45-47 Gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity by 2030, up from the current 19GW. Measures to achieve this include:
Increasing solar deployment on new build homes;
Launch a safety review to unlock portable plug-in solar panels, making it easier and cheaper for people living in rented accommodation and apartments to install solar panels on their balconies and rooftops;
Develop a plan to maximise the potential of solar power on warehouses, industrial parks and car parks; and
Stronger engagement with industry and trade bodies to identify skills gaps in the solar sector.
HM Government also published a new onshore wind strategy last week. Following a de facto ban on new onshore wind turbines in England between 2015 and 2024, the new strategy sets out more than 40 actions to get the sector ‘building again’. These include:
Resolving issues with how onshore wind turbines and aerospace civil and defence infrastructure co-exist;
Re-powering old turbines to maintain the current fleet; and
Streamlining planning permission and other regulations.
Delivering this strategy could support up to 45,000 skilled jobs by 2030, and help HM Government to reach its clean power target of 27-29 GW of installed onshore wind capacity by 2030, up from 15GW today.
How competitors frame Britain
TASS reported on a statement made by Andrey Kelin, Russian Ambassador to the UK, in which he called HM Government’s actions to arm Ukraine while also calling for peace hypocritical. Kelin went on to say: ‘London ignores the writing on the wall that Ukraine is headed for defeat on the battlefield.’ The ambassador seems confused as to why Britain might see the need to protect Ukraine from his own country’s ongoing invasion and intensifying bombing campaign.
Russia Today released propaganda stating that the UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has played a ‘central role in spreading false intelligence and engaging in provocative actions aimed at escalating global conflicts…’ The article claims that the 2022 bombing of the Kerch Bridge was ‘orchestrated’ by British operatives to draw Washington further into the war against Russia. More evidence of Kremlin mouthpieces’ obsession with British intelligence being behind every attack on Moscow. While MI6 is an effective service, Russian claims fall far from reality.
On 1st July, the Foreign Influence and Registration Scheme (FIRS) came into effect, requiring individuals and businesses to declare their links if they act on behalf of a foreign state. FIRS was paused after Sir Keir took office – its precursor was the National Security Act, passed in 2023 during the previous Conservative government.
The Scheme was reportedly paused due to HM Government’s indecision about whether the People’s Republic of China (PRC) should be included on the ‘enhanced’ tier. FIRS has two tiers; the political and the enhanced. The political – or ‘standard’ – tier requires registration of any arrangements to carry out political influence activities in the UK on behalf of a foreign power, including political communications or lobbying senior decision makers such as Members of Parliament (MPs) and election candidates.
The enhanced tier (which currently only includes Russia and Iran) requires the registration of ‘relevant activities’ (including commerce, research and attendance of events) conducted by specified foreign-controlled entities or individuals and organisations at the direction of specified foreign powers. HM Government’s belief is that the enhanced tier should be reserved for foreign powers which are considered a risk to Britain’s safety or interests.
This is where the PRC’s inclusion enters the debate. Some have argued that the PRC should be included on the enhanced tier, considering the findings over the last few years of Beijing’s attempts to interfere in British democracy – attempts acknowledged by HM Government. All large privately-owned Chinese companies have members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on their management board. The presence of the party permeates all business conducted with the PRC, hence why many feel that the PRC should be placed under the ‘enhanced’ tier, not to mention the CCP’s omnipresence in research and business activities conducted in the UK.
But the business community points out that the ‘relevant activities’ which would be required for registration under the ‘enhanced tier’ would extend to ‘providing airline, airport, hotel or taxi services to civil servants of a specified foreign power travelling in the UK in their official capacity’. Considering the volume of business which Whitehall wishes to pursue with Beijing, one can see how the PRC’s inclusion on the enhanced tier could make such commerce highly laborious. Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, echoed this sentiment, and it is believed that the bureaucracy and perceived risk of offending Beijing are the key reasons for the PRC’s omission from the enhanced tier.
Ultimately, Beijing’s absence from the enhanced tier of FIRS is another example of the contentiousness surrounding Britain’s muddled ‘China strategy’.
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