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EXPERT COMMENT

Keir Starmer and his foreign secretary will face difficult, early decisions on foreign policy. The test will be whether those rebuild the UK’s influence, reputation and interests.

It is a mark of the significance of this general election that a result predicted for months still brings with it a sense of uncertainty about what will follow.

On paper, there is little difference between most elements of Labour and Conservative foreign policy. The greatest differences are on Europe and migration; on China, Ukraine, the rest, it is astonishingly similar. But there will be early decisions that will set the tone of the Labour government’s approach to Britain’s place in the world and begin to fill in the questions carefully left blank in the campaign. 

More than that, though, whether Labour improves Britain’s standing in the world will depend on whether it can fix the UK’s problems at home, including its failure to achieve growth in productivity, its patchy education system, regional divergences and failing health system. 

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.