Following the election of Keir Starmer, Britain is now led by its first Labour government in 14 years. This change in leadership raises questions on how the United Kingdom will approach its security partnership with Australia, and its presence more broadly in the Indo-Pacific.
A special report, ‘Full tilt: The UK’s defence role in the Pacific’, collated by ASPI Senior Analyst Dr Alex Bristow, features a selection of articles from The Strategist over the past year, exploring the bilateral relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom, and Britain’s role in the Indo-Pacific region.
ASPI’s Strategist is Australia’s pre-eminent daily journal for national and international security issues.
This collection of articles provides vital context for addressing these leadership questions on strategic, foreign policy, defence and security priorities in the Indo-Pacific. The authors of these articles review the historical underpinnings and future course of Britain’s strategic recoupling with Australia and the region, from perspectives ranging from deterrence to climate resilience.
“Given fiscal circumstances and the priority that must be afforded to European security, there is a risk that Britain’s forward defence presence in the Indo-Pacific could get squeezed”, writes Dr Bristow. “If Britain seeks to understand the world from every angle, it pays to spend time down under.”
Building on the contributions in the report, Dr Bristow provides five key recommendations for how to strengthen the Australia-United Kingdom partnership and shape Britain’s approach to our region:
- Britain should reaffirm the United Kingdom’s commiement to a defence presence in the Indo-Pacific, including Submarine Rotation Force – West;
- Australia could offer to supplement Britain’s expertise on China, economic security and countering coercion;
- Britain and Australia should initiate a dialogue between senior defence and foreign ministry officials on defence strategy and deterrence, modelled on the annual Australia-US strategic policy dialogue;
- Britain should be regularly consulted on the shape and implementation of Australian Defence’s comprehensive workforce plan which allows non-nationals to join the Australian Defence Force; and
- Britain should consider establishing a consulate in Adelaide, and Australia should consider ways to extend its diplomatic reach in northwest England.
Quotes attributable to authors featured in this series:
“Whatever the political hue of the next British government, Australia and our regional partners can help smooth the UK’s Indo-Pacific recoupling with warm political messaging and inclusion in key forums and minilaterals, as well as practical military measures, like access to facilities
and participation in joint exercises.”
(Dr Alex Bristow, Beyond the tilt: assessing Britain’s strategic recoupling with the Indo-Pacific as a UK general election looms)
“What Britain bequeathed to the South Pacific means its tilt to the islands comes loaded with much valuable history; that heritage means the South Pacific response has had no trace of ‘Not you again’. Instead, the island message to Britain is ‘welcome back’.”
(Graeme Dobell, Working with the grain: history and Britain’s South Pacific tilt)
“The UK is more strategically aligned with Australia now than at any time since the early 1960s or even earlier. Their shared path might never take the form of a de jure alliance, but, as last week’s developments demonstrate, they are well on track to becoming de facto allies.”
(Dr Euan Graham, Australia and Britain deepen defence cooperation, but are they allies?)
“Britain’s modest defence engagement in the Pacific can deliver greater returns by working under the aegis of Australian programs and logistical arrangements without sacrificing a distinctly British brand and voice in the region. These synergies can and should apply to cooperation on climate change.”
(Afeeya Akhand, Australian and UK defence commit to joint action on climate)
“British renewable energy and climate-change adaptation projects work to address the single greatest threat to the region. Alongside initiatives like providing media training through BBC Media Action to Solomon Islands, these activities demonstrate British commitment to reinforcing efforts of the Pacific’s other development partners or filling gaps that they’re not addressing.”
(Blake Johnson, By filling gaps, Britain shows the way for Pacific islands’ second-level supporters)
