1 week Ago By Ciaran McGrath
Britain stands at a crossroads with the election of Donald Trump as US President, a former UKIP MP and Brexiteer has said. And Douglas Carswell believes Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer can belatedly reap the benefits of Brexit by aligning the UK with the US, rather than the EU - but only if he acts quickly. Mr Trump, who yesterday met outgoing President Joe Biden at the White House in preparation for moving back into the White House in January after last week’s election victory, was delighted when Britain voted to quit the bloc in 2016.
Despite the fact that Sir Keir was a Remainer who pushed for a second referendum, Mr Carswell - who represented Clacton, the seat now held by Nigel Farage , from 2010 to 2017 - urged him to take grasp the opportunity on offer. He explained: “There's clearly a choice that people who make statecraft in Britain, need to make. “You've got the United States taking off technologically and demographically and economically.
"Its population is growing. It is literally planning on sending rockets to Mars and it is on the cusp of an AI revolution.” However her said that what's going on in the US is starkly different to EU happenings.
He said: "On the other side of the Atlantic, you've got the European bloc, which is sclerotic and in decline. You can't even manage an email list in Europe without running the risk of being sued under GDPR regulations, which shockingly, Britain still remains positive. "The European Union is likely to be going to waging a regulatory war against Musk, against Microsoft, against all the American big tech companies.
” Mr Carswell, who is the President and CEO of US think tank the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, asked: “Is Britain really going to remain part of that European orbit which tragically, because of the incompetence of various Tory Prime Ministers post- Brexit , we didn't leave?” Conversely, Mr Trump’s affection for the UK meant there was an opportunity to get an “exemption” from the tariffs, which he was threatening to slap on imports from around the world, Mr Carswell claimed. He added: “The quid pro quo is that we realign, in regulatory terms, away from the European Union towards the United States. "Given all the dynamism and innovation that's happening on the planet is happening in the United States, it would be a very smart move if we took this opportunity to realign ourselves away from the EU towards the US.
” Asked whether such a move would put Sir Keir in a dilemma, given his pledge during the general election campaign to reset relations with Brussels, Mr Carswell said: “It could be that for ideological reasons, he decides to align Britain with a corpse. “But most countries in the Western world would give an arm and a leg to be in the situation that Britain is in, where you've got the America of Elon Musk , which is literally forging ahead to put rockets on Mars. And Britain is probably the only country in the world, where, if it plays its cards right, could get an exemption to the restrictions and the tariffs.
” Nevertheless the clock was ticking, Mr Carswell stressed. He said: "Trump is only in for one four year term and it's in the nature of these things that in the last 18 months you can't get anything major done. “The political capital has to be spent now.
We know that Trump is temperamentally inclined to be pro-British and give Britain a pass, and particularly because of Brexit . He thinks that Brexit is a sign that Britain is prepared to do what he's doing, which is to revive the West, to shrug off this decades of administrative state-induced inertia to actually revitalise America. And Britain could be along for the journey, but it's a limited window.
” Mr Trump has generally been very supportive of Brexit , viewing it as an assertion of British sovereignty and a move against globalism. During his first presidential term, he praised the decision of British voters to leave the European Union , framing it as a win for national independence and control over immigration and economic policy. He frequently compared Brexit to his own "America First" platform, seeing both as part of a broader populist movement.
He furthermore criticised former UK Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit , claiming she failed to secure a favourable deal with the EU, and he openly backed Boris Johnson , who took a more hardline stance on the exit. Mr Trump also expressed interest in a trade deal with the UK post- Brexit , stating it could be "very big" and beneficial for both countries, though specifics never materialised during his first spell in office..
