Democracy is “in retreat”, the foreign secretary will warn as he sets out his vision for the UK’s role in the world.
Dominic Raab will use a speech to argue that democracies face their greatest threat since the end of the Cold War.
He will argue that is why countries like Britain should try to be a “force for good in the world” as set out in a new foreign policy yesterday.
It comes as the government faces criticism over the UK’s future relationship with China.
The Integrated Review of foreign and defence policy set out plans to increase the cap on the UK’s stockpile of nuclear weapons.
It also said the government would shift its focus towards Indo-Pacific countries, while pledging to tackle the “systemic challenge” of China.
Speaking to the US Aspen Security Forum, Mr Raab will predict that, in the next decade, the combined wealth of autocratic regimes is likely to exceed that of the world’s democracies.
“Think about what that means for a second,” he will say.
“Tyranny is richer than freedom, and that matters to us here at home.
“Because stable, freedom-respecting democracies are much less likely to go to war, house terrorists or trigger large scale flows of migrants and they are generally, not always, but generally easier to trade with, and easier to cooperate with to solve our shared problems.”
He will say that the UK has “a moral responsibility and an indivisible stake in our planet, our global economy, our global ecosystem and the conditions of peace and stability that underpin them”.
And he will argue that the UK “can and should help alleviate the worst suffering in the world”.
The government has been criticised – including by some of its own MPs – for cutting foreign aid from 0.7% national income down to 0.5%.
Ministers argued that the cuts were necessary given the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the Integrated Review – published on Monday – pledged to reverse the cuts but only when “the fiscal situation allows”.
Responding to the review, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives of overseeing an “era of retreat,” with armed forces cuts “every year for the last decade”.
And he also said the UK’s policy towards China had been “inconsistent” and accused the government of turning “a blind eye” to human rights abuses in the country.
Meanwhile, Mr Raab has faced criticism after apparently telling officials the UK should trade with countries not meeting European Convention on Human Rights standards, in a leaked clip obtained by HuffPost UK.
The Foreign Office said the recording was selectively clipped to distort the comments of the foreign secretary who, it said, had emphasised the importance of promoting human rights.
A debate is raging within the Conservative party about how much a country’s human rights record should be taken in to account before agreeing trade deals.
Some senior backbenchers have expressed disquiet that ministers have not been robust enough in identifying the challenges posed by the China, particularly its treatment of the Uighurs.
Both the former foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt and the former chair of the intelligence and security committee, Dr Julian Lewis, expressed unease about treating China as a “partner” in the Commons on Monday.
But the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has defended the government’s approach arguing that it is only by engaging with China over trade that the UK will gain greater influence over how it behaves.
“You can trade with a country and at the same time make very strong representations about their mistreatment of minorities and their human rights abuses,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
He added: “What I don’t think is productive and what doesn’t make sense is simply to. metaphorically, pull up the drawbridge and say we are not going to have any dealings with whatever country it is and then at the same time tell the country they are not behaving properly or treating their minorities well.”
