‘Closed-door’ foreign policy has ‘weakened country’s foundations’, says Lisa Nandy

‘For too long, foreign policy has been the preserve of the political classes,’ says Labour frontbencher

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Closed-door discussions of Britain’s foreign policy and decisions implemented without public consent have “weakened the country’s foundations”, Lisa Nandy is set to argue.

Offering a “clear-eyed assessment” of how successive governments have failed to root foreign policy in communities, the shadow foreign secretary will argue ministers have left the UK “more adrift than ever”.

Taking aim at the government’s “Global Britain” strategy, Ms Nandy will add international challenges “demand more than empty slogans” and pledge to rebuild the UK’s reputation as a reliable international partner.

Outlining Labour’s key priorities during a speech at Chatham House, she will commit the party to examining the “growing disconnect” between officials and communities impacted by foreign policy decisions.

“For too long, foreign policy has been the preserve of the political classes – formulated and implemented without the consideration or consent of the British people,” the Labour frontbencher will say.

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“Labour will put the British people and our shared values back at the heart of foreign policy. There is a growing disconnect between the objectives we pursue abroad and the impacts they have on communities here at home.”

Ms Nandy will say that the effects of foreign policy are “writ large” in any town of the country, adding: “From the local football club put at risk by financiers on the other side of the world, to the impact that severe flooding has on a family-run business struggling to meet ends meet.

“The world beyond our shores, and our ability to mould and shape it, affects the lives of people at home to an extraordinary degree.”

“The challenges we face today demand more than empty slogans. Britain needs a foreign policy that defends our national security and safeguards the prosperity of the British people.

“Labour will rebuild Britain’s reputation as a reliable international partner, match the ambition of the British people and safeguard our national interests both at home an abroad.”

Warning of the domestic impact of foreign policy, she will mention a UK citizen falling victim to an organised crime gang “whose tentacles stretch across the globe” to steel workers who “stand to lose their jobs”.

“I want to make the case today that the gulf between what we do abroad and what we choose to deliver for people at home is a direct threat to the security and prosperity of our country,” Ms Nandy will claim.

“That this disconnect has cost us the support and consent of the British people for our activities overseas, undermining our ability to make change in the world.

“And those choices, divorced from the everyday lives of the British public have caused nothing short of devastation for so many, writing off too many people and their communities in every nation and region of the UK. It doesn’t have to be like this.”