Jeremy Hunt: UK can ‘learn lessons’ from Singapore

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said that the UK can “learn lessons” from Singapore after Brexit, pointing to its “strategic approach” to maintaining a competitive economic advantage.

Speaking during a three-day visit to Asia, Hunt spoke to business leaders about the UK’s role after Brexit. The Foreign Secretary said that Britain could learn lessons from Singapore’s strategic approach to global trade and long-term infrastructure investment, the Financial Times reports.

According to The Times, Hunt also emphasised Britain’s ties with Asia, noting that “Britain is the biggest European investor in southeast Asia, with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) trade of nearly £37 billion”. He also spoke of the 4,000 British companies that employ more than 50,000 people in Singapore.

Hunt’s comments come amid hopes from some Brexiteers that that the UK would become the “Singapore of the North” after Brexit, according to the BBC. However, speaking to Radio 4’s Today Programme, Hunt said: “We do not want and do not seek to emulate the social or political model of Singapore,” adding that the way that the UK funds its public services would remain different.