British public wants more cooperation with EU

The British government's notion of what it calls Global Britain does not reflect geostrategic realities, including the continuing importance of the European Union, according to a report on post-Brexit foreign policy.

Analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR, identified that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government seeks "perennial fights of a permanent Brexit", and that this is "eroding the UK's capacity to cooperate with the EU" on foreign and security policy.

A survey of the British public for the report revealed citizens do not have "any particular animus toward the EU". "While the public value British sovereignty and independence, they would support a foreign policy that worked cooperatively with the bloc," the report said.

Public opinion is divided on who is to blame for the current poor state of relations between the UK and the EU, with 39 percent saying the UK is responsible, while 38 percent say the bloc is at fault, reported The Guardian.

Polling found that 39 percent of the public considered the EU a future key partner, compared to 22 percent for the United States.

The ECFR report suggested that British security and prosperity will "increasingly depend on unromantic issues, such as carbon tariffs and investment screening", and said that for the UK to protect its interests it must "triangulate between the EU and US positions".

It suggested the best foreign strategy for the UK is to focus on "British strengths", avoid "military adventures in distant lands", and find "balanced, effective working relationships with the EU and the US".

The survey found the majority of respondents with an opinion, or 45 percent, would want the UK to remain neutral in the event of any conflict between the US and China. It found 54 percent believe there is already a cold war between the two.

The ECFR was particularly scathing of the UK government's concept of a "Global Britain", which it said was little more than "a delusion rooted in a misremembered imperial past".

Mujtaba Rahman, head of Eurasia Group's Europe practice, said the relationship between the UK and the EU "was never going to be easy after Brexit".

Writing for the Politico website, he said disagreements over the Northern Ireland Protocol and Anglo-French relations have "marred" the past year, and "whether 2022 will be better or worse really depends upon one question: the fate of Prime Minister Boris Johnson".

He added that relations between the UK and EU "aren't going to get better" with Johnson in charge, but that "his departure doesn' t guarantee that they wouldn't get worse".

Meanwhile, the UK has delayed the introduction of post-Brexit trade checks on goods moving from the island of Ireland to Britain, reported the Reuters news agency. New controls were due to come into force from Jan 1, but UK and EU talks to resolve difficulties with trading arrangements are unlikely to be concluded before the end of the year, said Britain's Brexit minister, David Frost.