About half of whom have a GNP barely matching that of Norwich.
If we are completely fair about this, one of the reasons that many poorer nations are poorer is because the entire developed world has hidden behind groups like the EU, NAFTA etc which are primarily import barriers to prevent external countries from supplying into their markets. This leaves the poorest nations screwed because while they can buy from advanced economies, they are effectively barred from selling to us. This prevents a balance of trade and prevents them from growing their economies.
In other words, they are poor because the worldwide trading system has been setup in a way that makes the poorest countries perpetual colonies on an economic basis. If we were to trade directly and fairly with these countries then they would quickly become rather good customers since they want to sell things that we want to buy that we can't make effectively in an advanced economy (basic materials and produce) and want to buy things that we generally make, such as modern industrial and agricultural equipment and how to use them (which we make, and education is one of our strong points).
So there is actually scope for productive and mutually beneficial trade with the poorer countries that may not stay poor with a good trading partner.
Mind you, i'd rate the chances of any British politicians managing to end up doing anything useful as pretty much zero, so we're probably screwed.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
