USNI News Home » Foreign Forces » China » U.K. and E.U. Must Forge Relationships to Counter Threats, Experts Say U.K. and E.U. Must Forge Relationships to Counter Threats, Experts Say Russian Navy Kilo-class submarine Novorossiysk. Photo by Yörük Işık used with permission The “big bad world out there” will drive the United Kingdom and European Union to find ways to build a new foreign policy and defense relationships while both are suffering from economic and trade “teething problems” following Brexit, four leading security experts said Friday. Speaking at an Atlantic Council online forum, Mark Sedwill, who until last year was the U.K.’s national security advisor, said London was “reluctant to see greater [security] integration through the E.U.” before Brexit, wanting a freer hand to act in what it considered its own interests. So far, bitter economic and trade issues from tariffs to Northern Ireland “are not spilling into foreign policy and security.”