What Biden means for the UK and the future of BLM
After four years of Trump in office, the world will now breathe a sigh of relief as they see huge changes to the U.S relationship with the rest of the world. We analyse how for the UK this may not be welcomed by Boris Johnson as the two sides take different approaches, which may impact the UK’s ‘special relationship’ with the U.S, but is welcomed by supporters of the BLM movement.
UK’s alliance with the U.S
We know that Biden thinks Brexit is a catastrophe for the UK and that it is in its best interests to stay in the EU. This signals to us that his direction will be ensuring that a relationship between the EU and the U.S is strong which will inevitably mean that the UK will have to ensure that it retains a strong relationship with the EU if it wants to negotiate a future trade agreement with the U.S.
The past four years Boris Johnson has been focused on fostering a relationship with Trump who is known for being anti-EU and anti-regulation. Now the UK government will have its work cut out in fostering a different kind of relationship with Biden who takes the opposite stance in his political opinions and approach.
Biden has previously stated that Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are clones of each other which indicates his reasons perhaps for his unwillingness to treat a trade deal as a priority. The U.S is now moving on to being a country that is firmly placed as a supporter of tackling climate change and racial and gender inequality which will mean the UK will have to follow suit if it is to continue a ‘special relationship’ with the U.S.
What does this mean for BLM?
We have so far seen Biden appoint a diverse range of executives in his administration which sets the record for the next four years and shows us that he not only upholds his values but also acts on them by putting supporters of BLM at the forefront of decision making giving us hope for a future that is brighter and will keep us engaged in the long term.
Biden has also been clear about his opinions on the way BLM protestors and police officers were treated at the BLM protests compared with the Capitol Hill riots and cited the Capitol Hill riots to be one of the darkest days in U.S history showing his support and solidarity for BLM.
The knock on effect of this is that we are already seeing organisations responding to BLM by implementing their own equality and diversity committees and finding ways to raise awareness and create an inclusive environment. For change to really happen, there needs to be legislation in place that makes it as much of a priority as the mandatory gender pay gap reporting in 2017. This does not mean that we should have racial pay gap reporting but we do need to go further than the Equality Act 2010 in our efforts to tackle diversity and inclusivity in the UK.
The inauguration of Biden, an important day of unity for the U.S, will mean that for the rest of the world change is possible and his decisions so far shows us what we can expect over the coming weeks, months and years.
