Sophia Gaston on All Out Politics – Sky News

On Tuesday, 10th March, Director of the British Foreign Policy Group, Sophia Gaston, appeared on Sky’s All Out Politics to discuss the day’s leading news and opinion stories.

Alongside founder of the Blue Labour advocacy group, Michael Heaver, and host Adam Boulton, Sophia discussed the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, fears over sovereignty regarding Huawei and the UK’s 5G network, and the upcoming UK Budget.

On Huawei, Sophia Gaston argued that we need to take a responsible decision about our economic opportunity, versus our security responsibilities, when it comes to dealing with China’s involvement with British infrastructure. Indeed, recently, Sophia argued in City A.M that ‘this authoritarian state (China) is also an economic powerhouse, and there are plenty of opportunities for meaningful links through business, culture, and education. But we cannot afford to be naive about how starkly different its values and objectives are to our own.’

On the budget, Sophia raised the contradictions between the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda, and the ingrained sense of fiscal responsibility within the Conservative Party, asking: “How do you take on this fundamental revolution – that the ‘levelling up’ strategy aspires to be,” whilst maintaining that level of sensible spending?

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