As the international system faces growing instability and great-power competition, the UK must think deeply about its role on the world stage. This essay, by Dr Hugo Rosemont, challenges pessimistic narratives of British decline and sets out an ambitious vision for the country to cement its position as Europe’s leading upper-middle power. It examines the UK’s strengths in intelligence, defence, diplomacy, international development, and technology, before proposing a practical foreign policy agenda centred on deeper EU-UK security cooperation, a renewed UK-US technology partnership, accelerated investment in defence and security, and closer collaboration between government and industry. With the US shifting its approach to European security and the UK preparing to host the G20 Summit in 2027, this essay argues that the UK must pursue a more confident, integrated and adequately funded international role.

About the Author:

Dr Hugo Rosemont is a Senior Policy Adviser who helps organisations to engage effectively across UK Defence, National Security and Resilience sectors. Outside of his advisory work, he serves as Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. He writes this essay in an independent capacity.

The views of this essay do not necessarily reflect the views of the Coalition for Global Prosperity