Following the CPF's consultations last year on Global Britain and the Post-Brexit Economy, representatives from 14 CPF groups across the country participated remotely in a roundtable discussion with the International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss on “Britain and the Commonwealth over the next ten years”.
Discussion focused around four questions:
What is the future of trade between the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth?
The UK government has announced that it will merge DfID with the FCO. What does this mean for developing countries in the Commonwealth?
How can the UK work with other Commonwealth nations to improve educational attainment in every nation of the Commonwealth?
How can the UK work with other Commonwealth nations to become more resilient after the coronavirus pandemic?
The event had originally been planned for a year earlier, but then there was the Party’s leadership contest, then the general election, then the country’s lockdown… Despite the delays, the meeting was still timely and worthwhile. Participants commented afterwards, “It's exciting to know the work going on behind the scenes to make the most of these wonderful opportunities.” Others were reassured that “the secretary of state was very much in tune with our feelings on the available opportunities” and noted, “She is exactly the person we need batting for our side.”
Members were interested in the proposed “D10” initiative that Liz mentioned—a club of democratic partners, based on the G7 plus Australia, South Korea and India—and one wondered whether New Zealand should not also be included, as it is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and has a very high EIU democracy ranking.
Be sure to have your say in our latest discussion, on Infrastructure, Investment and Devolution. If your group is responsible for a particularly interesting policy proposal, you too may be invited to discuss your ideas in greater detail at the heart of government!
What happens to all the radioactive waste produced by nuclear plants?
Hello Nikki,
Nuclear fission is not without its hazards, however with the latest technology these can be reduced to negligeable compared with what climate change may do to the planet, this is why modern fission reactors which are cooled with high pressure water, are contained in massive containment buildings, much stronger than the Chernobyl building. Using high pressure water is old technology using uranium as the fissile material because the design is to produce plutonium as a by-product for bombs, and over the last 50 years, the designs have not changed much. It would be much safer to cool the reactor with molten salt which does not require high pressures and the expensive containment building. An alternative to uranium is…
Thinking about going nuclear, if we say had a disaster like chynobel would this not wipe out most of the UK?
I am surprised that nobody appears to have mentioned the massive task for the UK to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050; it's as if climate change is not seen as a problem. The measures that will be needed will also be a significant export opportunity when we could sell our expertise to third world countries. All our energy needs will have to be delivered as fossil free electricity by 2050, either directly or converted into hydrogen. As our zero carbon electricity is presently only around 7% our the total energy demand, this is a huge task. In addition to boosting our renewables by, say, up to 5 or 6 times, limited by our available space on land and…