“Can We Be Great Again?”: Sir Jeremy Hunt on National Renewal, Innovation, and Britain’s Role in a Changing World
“Can We Be Great Again?” Sir Jeremy Hunt on National Renewal, Innovation, and Britain’s Role in a Changing World
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Jeremy Hunt praised Britain’s “greatness” and global influence, noting that its strength will increasingly depend on how well it adapts to evolving innovation and policy. Sir Jeremy wen on to define national ‘greatness’ as meaning, “A country that can shape the world as well as be shaped by it”, something he believes the UK to be capable of. In a recent conversation with UKAI CEO, Tim Flagg, Hunt discussed his new book, Can We Be Great Again? Why a Dangerous World Needs Britain, political pessimism, technology, and Britain’s status as a global superpower. Hunt emphasised his belief in the fact that national greatness lies in the ability to adapt, innovate and lead and insisted that such confidence does not need to be “jingoistic”.
Why the UK Must Lead in Technology
Reflecting on his time at the Treasury, Hunt described how he was struck by the sheer scale and diversity of the UK’s tech ecosystem, now valued at over £1 trillion and ranked third in the world, behind only the United States and China.
Our technological ecosystem, to him, is both “exciting” and “extraordinary”: outside the US, the UK is “the world's biggest financial services sector”. He celebrated the spin-offs, science parks, and tech parks owned by our universities, “every bit as good as what happens at Stanford and the Ivy Leagues”.
How to Power Growth
Hunt explained how the UK’s ambition to rival the US and China in technology depends on keeping British start-ups in the UK once they are successful and developed, “We’ve got to create an infrastructure where homegrown companies can do an IPO in the UK without having to go to NASDAQ or elsewhere once they hit unicorn status.”
He insisted that “North Americans are making more money out of our great hopes for the future than Brits are.” He noted that 45 per cent of British venture capital funding comes from North American pension funds, compared to just 3 per cent from British ones.
Reforming the NHS
According to Hunt, the NHS’s status as the most centralised health system in the world makes structural reform essential if it is to adopt new technologies effectively and foster innovation. Hunt argued that excessive central control has made the system risk-averse and slow to adopt innovation. He called for decentralisation, giving more autonomy to hospitals and local health trusts, akin to the reforms that improved state schools over the past two decades, “When we gave headteachers power over budgets and accountability, we saw English schools become the best in the Western world. There’s no reason the NHS can’t do the same.”
AI Regulation
Hunt also addressed the UK’s position between the EU’s heavily regulated model and the US’s laissez-faire approach to artificial intelligence. He expressed his support for the US model, to minimise regulation, “but be prepared to clear up the mess if there is one”.
Hunt clearly feels that Europe’s restrictive approach risks stifling innovation, “The EU asks, ‘Why don’t we have a Google or Microsoft?’ You’ll never get one with that kind of heavy-handed regulation.” But he did praise the UK’s tradition of independent, pragmatic regulation, noting that the country has led on digital safety and transparency, including age verification laws. He emphasised that it is most important to “keep regulators independent and responsive”.
The Politics of Optimism
Hunt cited Donald Trump’s social media strategy as a positive harbinger of his new world we’re in”, that the US President seems able to tap into the public psyche, giving him a “unique ability to both listen and communicate”. His ability to do so, Hunt argued, rests on his spending three hours every morning on social media, listening to what people want and how they express it.
Throughout the discussion, Hunt’s emphasis consistently rested on matters of national confidence. From the tech sector to health and regulation, he argued that the UK already has the talent, institutions, and industrial base to compete globally, but that structural reform and investment are needed to unlock its full potential. He gave us many reasons to believe that Britain can be great again.