One of the more alluring arguments for Brexit was that it would allow Britain to shed outdated 20th-century European conceptions of pooled sovereignty like some raggedy snakeskin, emerging sleeker into a shinier new world. Farewell regional barriers, entangling treaties, overly restrictive rules and regulations! Hello the newly liberalised, digitally interconnected, global Britain!
Reality is already proving different to the promise. As the UK is rapidly discovering, the limitations on sovereignty in the 21st century are pressing in on the nation state, particularly on vital technology issues amid escalating tensions between the US and China.
Giant American tech firms, including Google, Amazon and Microsoft, already control much of the world’s critical data, the lifeblood of a modern economy. Washington has just bullied Britain into reversing its decision to use the Chinese telecoms company Huawei to build its 5G network. And now Nvidia, the US company that has just overtaken Intel to become the world’s most valuable chipmaker, is in talks to snap up Arm, one of the precious few, globally relevant, British-based technology firms.