Britain Losing Influence in NATO Unlikely to Result From Brexit - Advocacy Group

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The doomsday warning that a British exit from the European Union, Brexit, would cause Britain to lose its influence in NATO is unlikely to come to pass, vice president for strategy at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, Iain Murray told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"For Britain to lose its role in NATO, it would have to voluntarily withdraw, and I don’t think that is going to happen," Murray said responding to speculations on the British exit from the EU.

Following the June Brexit referendum, policy analysts suggested that British independence could further fracture and weaken the NATO alliance.

The British Parliament also concluded a study in July warning that an economic contraction, resulting from Brexit, could weaken defense spending.

"Realistically, NATO is not going to change at all," Murray said. He added that Minister of Defense, Michael Fallon, who has overseen an increase in British defense spending, is not likely to head "towards any sort of isolationism."

On June 23, the United Kingdom held a referendum to determine whether or not the country should leave the European Union. Nearly 52 percent of voters, or 17.4 million people, decided to support Brexit, while about 16.1 million opposed it.