The UK’s tilt to the Indo-Pacific and what’s next for its policy to the region?

Origins of the tilt

In 2021 the Conservative government proposed that the UK should “tilt to the Indo-Pacific”, meaning strengthening its defence, trade and foreign policy relations with the region.

The proposal was set out in the 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, the government’s strategy for national security, development, defence and foreign policy up to 2030.

The 2021 Integrated Review said the UK would become the “European partner with the broadest, most integrated presence in support of mutually beneficial trade, shared security and values” in the region (the Indo-Pacific region was not defined in the review).

Tilt achieved? Goals reached under Conservative government

In a 2023 ‘refresh’ of the 2021 Integrated Review, the Conservative government stated it had achieved its original ambition for the tilt, citing several goals proposed in the 2021 document that had been achieved, including:

• Concluding free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand
• Reaching agreement to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc
• Becoming a dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) organisation
• Sending a Carrier Strike Group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth on a deployment to the Indo-Pacific region

Not originally envisaged as part of the tilt, in September 2021 the UK along with the US and Australia established AUKUS a new trilateral defence and security partnership between the three countries. A significant development in the UK’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific.

The Conservative Government also strengthened bilateral relations with key partners in the region, including Japan, South Korea, India and Australia.

Reports by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs and Defence select committees, both published in 2023, questioned to what extent the then government had articulated a clear strategy to the region.

The Foreign Affairs Committee welcomed the tilt but said it should not come at the expense of the UK’s commitment to other regions, including the Middle East, and questioned the extent to which the tilt had achieved a permanent rebalancing of UK foreign policy. The Defence Committee said it “reject[ed] the notion” that the ‘tilt’ had been “achieved” from a defence perspective. It argued the UK was currently under resourced to sustain its existing defence commitments to NATO and the Euro-Atlantic region, and “if we aspire to play any significant role in the Indo-Pacific this would need a major commitment of cash, equipment and personnel. Without this, the UK may need to curb its ambitions in the region”.

The tilt under the Labour Government

The Labour government has launched a strategic defence review which is expected to report in the first half of 2025. A new national security strategy is also due to be published before the end of June 2025.

These documents may provide further detail on how the government will prioritise its resources and focus between Europe and the Euro-Atlantic region, with that of the Indo-Pacific region.

Some analysts have emphasised that the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are interlinked, and that the UK should not have to choose between better relations with Europe or focusing on the Indo-Pacific, rather it should pursue both goals at the same time.

The government has said it remains committed to the AUKUS partnership. While emphasising the UK’s security priorities are in Europe and its ‘NATO first’ defence policy, the government has also talked of developing its existing ties to the Indo-Pacific. It has also continued to develop bilateral relations with countries in the region.