The strategic view that Britain needs to be in the EU remains universal among New Zealand strategists. However the Leaves did not vote geopolitically but on domestic considerations including, apparently, resentment of immigration and of the unequal gains from trade. New Zealand has little alternative but to accept the direction the Brits are taking, albeit with regret. Withdrawing from the EU is proving more difficult than anyone anticipated. Almost every week there is a revelation of an additional complication. Two years to negotiate the deal is just absurd, indicative of how little David Cameron, the previous British prime minister, had…

A new paper backed by former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott is calling on the UK to quit the EU's customs union and focus on Commonwealth trade after Brexit. The report, authored by Tory Braintree MP James Cleverly, suggests a five step approach to Britain's trade priorities, beginning with the Commonwealth’s open economies. After setting up “easy win” deals with Australia, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand in time for Brexit in 2019, the UK should pivot to negotiations with India, before deals with the Commonwealth nations of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Finally, Cleverly said the UK should join…