British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband is to vow to end the country’s “small-minded isolationist” attitude to Europe if he becomes prime minister after an election in two weeks’ time.
In a speech yesterday, the left-leaning party leader was to accuse Conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron of risking Britain’s national interests by giving in to euroskeptics, according to pre-released remarks.
“David Cameron has presided over the biggest loss of influence for our country in a generation,” Miliband was to say in a speech at think tank Chatham House in London. “It is time to reject the small-minded isolationism that has characterized this government. Because this government’s approach has and weakened Britain at a time when the challenges are perhaps greater and more complex than at any time since the Second World War.”
Foreign policy has been little debated in the campaign ahead for the May 7 vote aside from references to immigration, something the Labour Party said showed the “growing insularity of British politics.”
In the speech, Miliband was to describe Cameron’s absence from peace talks on the Ukraine crisis between French, German, Russian and Ukrainian leaders as an “apt symbol of Britain’s isolation and waning influence.”
Miliband’s Labour Party and Cameron’s center-right Conservatives are neck-and-neck in polls, but on Thursday, the main betting shop firms made Miliband their favorite to become prime minister for the first time.
Advocating a “hard-headed multilateralism,” Miliband is to accuse Cameron of capitulating to the anti-EU, anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP) by promising a referendum on Britain’s membership of the bloc in 2017 if he is re-elected prime minister.
“He has taken us to the edge of European exit because he has been too weak to control his own party and too anxious about the rise of UKIP, a rise he could and should have challenged, but pandered to instead,” Miliband was to say.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS