As one of the most open economies in the world, Britain lives by its trading relationships. Together the 27 countries of the European Union constitute the UK’s biggest market. But there is no escaping the fact that Europe’s share of Britain’s trade is slowly shrinking and once again the UK looks to the rest of the world for its commercial relationships.

Britain’s relationship with Israel is complex. It is partly framed by the troubled colonial past of the British mandate and in more recent times by negative images of Israel in the UK media. As two countries which by necessity look outwards rather than inwards for their economic future, both nations are largely guided by free market principles. Indeed, economic liberalism, a belief in laissez-faire economics and free trade are central tenets of Toryism in Britain and successive rightist governments in Israel headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s membership of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic and Development (OECD) since 2010 means that it is part of the economic elite of 34 industrialised nations. But it has also brought with it obligations in terms of opening up markets, removing structural barriers to trade and labour markets. It has set Israel on a policy course that draws it more into the international community and replicates a model of which post-Thatcher Britain is considered an exemplar.

Britain is often described as the world’s first industrial nation because it was on these shores that modern manufacturing industry was born in the Victorian age. The Britain of dark satanic mills and gin-swilling masses is, of course, a thing of the past. The great feature of the 20th century and early 21st century has been deindustrialisation: in this former manufacturing economy, services now constitute more than 70 per cent of national output. Financial and business services have never been more important; the creative industries contribute up to 10 per cent of GDP and Britain, in its own inimical way, is becoming Europe’s high-tech hub. The London Stock Exchange and its junior AIM market have become favourite centres for launching start-ups particularly in the financial technology area known as FinTech. Silicon Valley giants including Google, Facebook and Amazon are building campuses in London and establishing European headquarters despite public squabbles over taxation.

Read the article in full at Fathom.