Politics

Pick your fights: Labour’s foreign policy priorities and challenges

The UK in 2024 must focus on its key objectives abroad. For the new prime minister, that means America and Europe. If Donald Trump wins in November, however, a new script may be needed.

Eduardo Ramon

New UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has to pick his battles. His priorities include the US, Europe, and Ukraine.

Pick your fights: Labour’s foreign policy priorities and challenges

Christopher Phillips

last update on 20 Jul 2024

After a resounding electoral victory on 4 July, the Labour party now face the reality of government.

Sir Keir Starmer and his cabinet have all been hyperactive in their early days in office, keen to assure voters that the ‘change’ they promised was no empty slogan.

None has been more animated than the new Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is keen on moving from the “inward-looking” years of Conservative rule to “reconnecting Britain with the global community.”

Reconnecting in a substantial way may prove challenging while Starmer’s fiscal conservatism and focus on Britain’s domestic troubles limit both budget and bandwidth.

The new UK government must prioritise its objectives abroad. How might it do so, and what obstacles might it face?

Honing a strategy

Britain’s two most important historical relationships—with Europe and the US—will remain the top priority.

Resetting Britain’s relationship with the EU after years of hostility following Brexit is also at the heart of Labour’s strategy.

Lammy underlined this by jetting off to Berlin on Day 1. There, as in accompanying visits to Poland and Sweden, he said he wanted to “put the Brexit years behind us,” as quoted in The Guardian.

Resetting Britain's relationship with the EU after Brexit is at the heart of Labour's strategy. David Lammy jetted off to Berlin on his first day.

Despite campaigning to remain in the EU, Starmer and Lammy have insisted that the UK will not rejoin either the EU, its single market or its customs union, but have urged closer security cooperation.

Lammy has proposed a wide-ranging security deal to include defence, energy, climate change and migration.

Brussels grows cold

Chancellor Rachel Reeves also wants closer alignment with the EU to promote trade and "bespoke" agreements in certain sectors.

Yet while fellow centre-left governments in Poland and Germany may prove receptive to these plans, Labour may struggle to convince other EU members.

The rise of the populist right across Europe, alongside political instability in France, will make the European bloc more nationalist. It will be reluctant to do Britain any favours.

There may be some appetite for security cooperation, especially given ongoing concerns over Ukraine, but Labour may hit a wall on improving economic ties.

Johanna Geron/Reuters — Flags fly outside the European Commission HQ in Brussels. Resetting relations with Europe is a Labour Party priority.

Brussels' line throughout the Brexit negotiations was that the UK could not pick and choose aspects of the single market. That has not changed.

If anything, it is now less likely, since increasingly nationalist governments in Europe may want to prioritise and protect their own industries.

An Atlantic rift?

The relationship with the US is also complicated. Starmer is a committed Atlanticist, as is Lammy, and they are ideologically close to Biden's Democrats.

But Republican candidate Donald Trump is well ahead in the polls and Biden's own party seems increasingly intent on replacing him. Starmer must therefore temper his natural affinity with Biden.

Lammy has already built connections with the Trump team to hedge against this, yet should Trump win, the difficulties will mount.

Starmer has insisted that he "will work with whoever is elected" in November, knowing that the UK cannot afford to become estranged from the US, especially now that it has left the European Union.

Starmer knows that the UK cannot afford to become estranged from the US, especially now that it has left the European Union.

However, at the same time, Trump may distance Washington NATO and Ukraine, two key security priorities for the UK, forcing Starmer into a balancing act.

Though the US and Europe will remain the core priorities, the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine will remain salient for as long as they rage.

Gaza and Ukraine

Public anger at Labour's Gaza policy cost the party a handful of seats at the general election, despite a gradual shift away from Starmer's staunchly pro-Israel approach.

Benjamin Cremel/Reuters — Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (C) with Defence Secretary John Healey (L) and Lord Robertson (R), a former head of NATO, on 16 July 2024. Ukraine is a key immediate security priority.

Starmer spoke to both Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu after being elected, emphasising the importance of a ceasefire and, in the long-term, a Palestinian state, but he has no plans to recognise one unilaterally.

Given the importance of the US relationship, it seems unlikely Labour will dramatically diverge from Washington on Gaza, and the US remains firmly behind Israel.

On Ukraine, the UK may find itself playing a more prominent role should Trump step back once in the White House.

For now, though, as with Gaza, policy is likely to continue in a similar vein to under the Conservatives.

Forging a new path

Beyond these issues, Lammy has spoken of wanting to focus on climate change and to engage with the Global South.

On China, Labour seems torn between the need for trade and investment in the UK's ailing economy, and the possible security threat from Beijing.

For now, that is further down the priority list. The UK's lacks of bandwidth in foreign affairs limits it to priorities. Gone are the days when the UK could play an active role in all of the world's great debates.

On foreign affairs, Starmer has greater restraints and fewer resources than Tony Blair, the last Labour who won a landslide, in 1997. For now, at least, his foreign policy goals will likely be far more modest.

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