PM: Hostile international environment are biggest challenge
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the "increasingly complex and hostile international environment" over the past year has posed the biggest challenge.
Referencing Ukraine, China and the Middle East, he admitted global relations had been taken for granted and the UK needed to invest in its defence capabilities and strengthen its alliances. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Referencing Ukraine, China and the Middle East, he admitted global relations had been taken for granted and the UK needed to invest in its defence capabilities and strengthen its alliances. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00 Prime Minister, in a single word, what would you say is the greatest strategic challenge
00:05 facing the United Kingdom?
00:06 I think the increasingly complex and hostile international environment is something that
00:16 over the past year has occupied more of my time than one might have anticipated.
00:21 And you can see that not just in the situation in Russia and Ukraine,
00:26 but we've talked in the past in this forum about the risk posed by China's activities,
00:33 Iran, and now most recently in the Middle East in particular,
00:37 the situation in the Red Sea is deeply concerning.
00:41 As a maritime nation, we've always believed very strongly in free and open shipping lanes
00:46 that is now being threatened by malign actors.
00:49 And it's just further evidence that the international picture is both complex
00:53 and more challenging, and previously we, I think, may have taken many of these things for granted.
00:58 It's clear that we can't, and we need to invest in our defence capability and strengthen our
01:02 alliances to keep everyone at home safe and protect our economy too.