A leading member of Britain’s House of Commons select committee on foreign affairs has called for the United Kingdom to share its permanent seat on the UN Security Council with Australia and Canada.
Written by James Skinner
In what comes as a significant declaration for CANZUK security cooperation, Mr. Seely told The Australian that the UN seat should become an “Anglosphere” seat.
Interviewing in the House of Commons, the Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight said he thought Britain should share the seat with Australia and Canada, and cooperate in the interests of international security and counter-terrorism operations.
“Perhaps half the time the ambassador to the UN should be British and half the time it could be an Australian or a Canadian,” he said.
Mr. Seely, who is a former army officer in the British forces, has previously stated his belief that Brexit will offer an opportunity for the British to have a much more intimate relationship with the CANZUK countries, especially on security matters.
“We should integrate our armed forces much more,” he said. “We (the British, Canadians and Australians) would be a formidable power. We would operate on both sides of the Atlantic and both sides of the Pacific. We would represent 130 million of the most affluent people in the world.”
While Mr. Seely has not yet officially raised his proposal for a joint CANZUK seat at the UN, he plans to do so as trade and migration agreements between the four countries begin to develop following the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.
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Cooperation between the CANZUK countries would develop an already existing agreement between them (and the United States) where military, signals and human intelligence are shared under the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance.
Mr. Seely’s proposals come as security cooperation was also discussed in April, as the four Prime Ministers of the CANZUK countries met in London to discuss a continued security partnership along with measures to fight terrorism and growing concerns regarding China and Russia.
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