Three reasons Britain isn't 'Singapore-on-Thames', no matter how helpful it would be

Former Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to embrace Brexit freedoms and turn Britain into "Singapore-on-Thames". Following the trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, Hunt cautioned against erecting trade barriers, instead embracing free trade and lower taxes. Writing in the Telegraph, Hunt urged Sir Keir to "resist the siren song of protectionism", saying that thanks to Singapore's model "its living standards have grown five times faster than ours".

Hmm. Based in Singapore myself, I doubt a country of 68 million people could neatly replicate what has worked so well in the city state. Moreover, Singapore's success owes as much to its social model. Indeed, the Little Red Dot's economic model cannot easily be divorced from its social model and culture rooted in Asian values. The low tax and free-trade model work in part because of a social model emphasising harmony, self-reliance, and - as one sees across Asia - greater reliance on family than the state.

Singapore is a country of strong borders and discipline as well. Immigration rules are strongly enforced, criminality is stamped upon (even low level) and hierarchy respected. Does that sound like the UK? Singapore attracts capital and talent as much for its safety and infrastructure - both thanks to a strong role for the government - as for the strong property rights and low taxes, as laudable as these are. I'm not so sure one can easily pick apart the social mores of Singapore from the pro-business characteristics Hunt singles out.

It is worth emphasising that Singapore's government has a colossal role in the economy, with stakes in major companies. The model works but it is hardly Thatcherism redux. In fairness to Mr Hunt, I'm also not convinced tit-for-tat tariff relation against America will work. For starters, Trump clearly wants to negotiate, and the UK is very much at the lower end of the list of trade offenders so far as the President's team is concerned.

True, the UK got slapped with a 10% tariff, technically 100% of the tariffs it slaps on the US according to the Trump team's methodology. Yet 10% was the minimum tariff to be imposed, and had the UK been in the EU it would have been subject to 20%. A Brexit dividend if ever there was one. Still, citing Singapore as the model is too simplistic. The Southeast Asian state's set-up is unique, not easily replicable, and owes as much to its socio-political policies as economic ones.

Hunt may be right insofar as the UK should not start a trade war but instead embrace free trade. But let's be cautious about using Singapore as a model. The city state has more to offer and teach us than low taxes.