Britain’s government is trying to protect national security
Without throttling investment that will be tricky
ON JANUARY 4TH a new investment-screening law came into effect, heralded by the government as “the biggest shake-up of the UK’s national-security regime for 20 years”. That is no exaggeration. It marks a shift away from economic openness towards suspicion and intervention. Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said it would show members of the public that “their security remains our number one priority”. What could go wrong?
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Balancing act”
From the January 8th 2022 edition
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