The precariously paused war on Iran by the US and Israel is jeopardising UK economic recovery, and is causing new disruption. It has already demonstrated the risks of dependence on fossil fuels and underlined the dangers of military reliance on the US. Whilst we wait to see what happens, it is worth stepping back to look at the UK and Europe as a whole from a business point of view. The glaring truth is that the whole continent urgently needs money for defence, public services, and investment in infrastructure including energy transition. Countries also need to work together more closely to get the benefits of continental scale in industry and defence. The most obvious, and possibly only, decisive step the UK could take to change its economic predicament would be (more…)