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UK has plans to establish military bases in the Caribbean and Far East after Brexit

Wednesday, January 2nd 2019 - 08:19 UTC
Full article 2 comments
“We are looking at those opportunities not just in the Far East but also in the Caribbean as well” pointed out the Defense Secretary Williamson “We are looking at those opportunities not just in the Far East but also in the Caribbean as well” pointed out the Defense Secretary Williamson
“I am very much looking at how we can get as much of our resources forward based, actually creating a deterrent but also taking a British presence” “I am very much looking at how we can get as much of our resources forward based, actually creating a deterrent but also taking a British presence”

The Defense Secretary has said the UK could establish new military bases in the Caribbean and the Far East. Gavin Williamson has told the Sunday Telegraph it would allow Britain to become a “true global player” following Brexit.

Mr Williamson said: “I am very much looking at how we can get as much of our resources forward based, actually creating a deterrent but also taking a British presence.

”We are looking at those opportunities not just in the Far East but also in the Caribbean as well.“ But he declined to identify possible locations.

He said he expected a dramatic shift in political focus after Brexit - with the UK building deeper relationships with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Caribbean states and nations across Africa.
Mr Williamson predicted these countries would look to the UK for ”the moral leadership, the military leadership and the global leadership“.

He said Britain should be ”much more optimistic about our future as we exit the European Union“. He regarded the UK's move out of the EU as the country's ”biggest moment as a nation since the end of the Second World War.“

”This is our moment to be that true global player once more - and I think the armed forces play a really important role as part of that.“

In response Tory backbencher Anna Soubry who's a Remainer accused the Defense Secretary of having ”naked ambition“. She denounced his comments as ”utter twaddle“, insisting that EU membership does not constrain UK defense policy.

Meanwhile, Labour MP Chris Leslie, a leading supporter of the People's Vote campaign, said: ”Gavin Williamson's claims that Brexit would allow the UK to build bases in the Far East or the Caribbean betray an ignorance of military strategy that is worrying in a Defense Secretary.“

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a second EU referendum, said: ”If the Defense Secretary really thinks Brexit will make Britain a 'true global player', he's not read the reports his own Government have been producing.

“They tell a different story of Brexit Britain being put through economic ruin and being locked out of key defense capabilities which keep us safe.”

An anonymous source close to Williamson earlier told the newspaper that new bases could be stationed in Singapore or Brunei, and on Montserrat Island or in Guyana within the next few years.

The UK currently has 15 overseas military bases, including on the Falkland Islands, in Cyprus, Canada, Gibraltar and the British Indian Ocean Territory, but British forces are due to leave their German base in 2019.

Categories: Politics, International.

Top Comments

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  • Patrick Edgar

    OK, well this is even more than expected !
    So ... what EXACTLY is the logic behind this? What the hell does a military base among non enemy countries who are all friendly have to do with Brexit? To become a better Global “PLAYER”? Not a better Global Aggressor? but a better Global “Player” ?
    LOL: Oh! We're NOT being Invasive and Paranoid, We're just being a Better Player! lol ... There's a word for that kind of sentence in English. But let's get to the point shall we?
    Brexit is NATO's excuse to position itself against Venezuela's new found friendship with Russia? Why not just say it? Is it because America has already suggested Venezuela needs a “military intervention” and so it can solidly say it is defending itself? Is it because warring people like the British and their governments love using political volatility and instability in other countries to excuse militarily supporting sides of their civil wars to later gain a foothold itself in them? Is it because the UK and the US always prejudistically never gave a rats ass about our countries in South America, and consistently disrespected all of Latin America to where it has always treated it as its political militant target practice back yard? ... So now it uses “Brexit” to not make any of that, any more obvious ???
    ... Right about now, there is an elder man on the Falkland Islands crying as he is finally understanding what and why London wanted a war on the Islands, and changed the peaceful nature of his home for ever. The Argentine military would have just left eventually the islands in a year or two after the UN and Argentina whatever whatever. But the British military had no intention of ever leaving, weeks before the Argentine landing.
    It's always befuddling to me when I see how British act so shocked and surprised when they hear things like they are the cheating political thieving rapist of the planet and are hated by so many countries in the world. Though they ARE one of the world's most indoctrinated.

    Jan 02nd, 2019 - 12:02 pm 0
  • The Voice

    Happy New Year Patrick! You sound in great form. With your support for evil dictators and murderous assassins fully intact. Perhaps we British can help the millions of impoverished Venezualans fleeing Maduros impoVerished murderous basket case regime? Safe in the USA you must feel safe from Putins needles and nerve gas attacks.
    Dont worry our Sepoys are keeping a close eye on things in RGland.

    Keep up the routine you are without doubt the best SA comedian on Mercopress!

    Jan 03rd, 2019 - 10:52 am 0
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