British Think Tank Outlines What Successful Brexit Looks Like For UK Security

Advocates of Brexit have claimed leaving the EU would open up opportunities to enhance Britain’s National Security, international influence and independence of action.

The UK-based think-tank UK in a Changing EU has published the results of a study in which its authors outline what they believe a successful Brexit would constitute with regards to Britain's overall security policy.

Experts devise tests of Brexit’s impact on UK foreign and security policies@RGWhitman @anandMenon1 @LScazzieri @camillamacdona7 @MChalmers_RUSIhttps://t.co/yXvLOxJf1r pic.twitter.com/VgTCRjS3Uo

— UK in a Changing EU (@UKandEU) February 26, 2018

​National Security

According to the report's authors, the best-case Brexit scenario for the country's national security is one that maintains in place the institutional arrangements for fighting terrorism and organized crime across the continent. This would involve maintaining full membership of Europol as well as the European Arrest Warrant System, which enables law enforcement to pursue suspected criminals across the borders of signatory countries.

READ MORE: Number of Terrorists Coming to Europe From Syria, Iraq Sees Minor Rise — Europol

Of particular concern has also been the status of Britain's territories beyond the country's English core, notably Northern Ireland, Scotland and Gibraltar. The report advocates that any final settlement between London and Brussels must leave the political status-quo of these territories in place so as to preserve the continued unity of the United Kingdom. Scottish nationalist tendencies have been combatted in recent decades by the process of devolving government powers to Edinburgh, while the armed conflict in Northern Ireland came was brought to an end in the late 1990s with the institution of the frictionless border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

International Influence

Britain contributes significantly to the military weight of Europe as a whole, leading the authors to conclude that the UK's combat capacities will not be seriously affected by it's exit from the EU, especially given its continued membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its so-called "Special Relationship" with the United States.

The questions asked by @UKandEU are important for shaping the opportunities we must grasp as we leave the EU. #planningforthefutureisnotamatterofrhetoric https://t.co/zfKwsz2sOO

— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) February 26, 2018

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Brexit may however make the UK's coordination with other European countries on various matters more difficult, as it will have lost the ability to influence the shaping of the bloc's "Common Foreign Policy," a privilege open only to member states. As a result, Britain will need to engineer a more "flexible" alliance system based on its objectives in different regions of the world, particularly where the European Union holds less or little direct influence.

Control

One of the key factors motivating the Leave Campaign in 2016 was the objective of "taking back control" of the UK's borders and becoming once again a distinct legal jurisdiction from the Continent. Similarly having exclusive control over the formation of its own foreign policy has been a primary concern, particularly to the so-called Hard Brexiteers.

Brexit may require policymakers to define a more strategic approach to world politics than required since accession to the EU in 1973. Read our Foreign and Security Policy Tests for #Brexit report here: https://t.co/UNlkeQzqb3 pic.twitter.com/FkfnF4CpvB

— UK in a Changing EU (@UKandEU) February 26, 2018

​The report's view of a successful Brexit in this respect would entail Britain maintaining its autonomy in shaping future global initiatives and institutions such as measures to tackle climate change and maritime trafficking.