United Kingdom Drops to 11th Largest Economy

The United Kingdom's economy, once the envy of the world, is set to drop out of the top ten economies by 2015, based on analysis from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

The United Kingdom previously ranked as high as fourth, but in recent months has been overtaken by China, Italy, and France. The news comes at an inopportune time when the UK finds itself under building pressure to surrender its coveted diplomatic positions. The results pose trouble for the British Commonwealth where the UK could find itself the third or fourth most important economy among the group, a situation that could diminish the authority of the British monarch. Doug McWilliams of CEBR said, "We will have to be prepared to put up with economic, political and social decisions made internationally in countries with very different approaches to, for example, human rights. This could prove traumatic." The United Kingdom is not the only country affected by the report, the United States, the worlds largest economy may be overtaken by the Chinese in 2020 at current rates. With economies increasingly based upon the service sector, the UK and USA both find themselves as declining world powers.