British minister Catherine West cool on New Zealand joining Aukus

Catherine West, the first member of the new British Government to officially visit New Zealand, says the political change in Britain will mean a period of “stability”. “It’s a very exciting moment for us,” West, whose official title is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Indo-Pacific, told the Herald. Her role means she is the member of the Government responsible for this region, although she sits under the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is the equivalent of our foreign minister.

“We have the opportunity for a period of stability this term after quite a bumpy period in politics – some of it from the Ukraine war, Covid, the global financial crash, and austerity, but also the Brexit debate, which was a big question about identity that took up a lot of bandwidth for MPs so hopefully now we can draw a nice fresh breath,” she said. West, who was born in Australia but has lived in Britain since the 1990s, said the country’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) agreement would see increased engagement in the region..