CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt outlines the need for a change in direction as regards to government spending.
As Andy Burnham takes on the role of new Prime Minister, it is deeply concerning that he is continuing Keir Starmer’s warmongering agenda – even if it is dressed up as ‘reindustrialisation’. This will be a disaster and drive the country closer towards nuclear war, drag the population even further into poverty and devastate our vital public services. Instead, we need political solutions to the conflicts we face and investment that will create genuine, sustainable growth and prosperity.
The Defence Investment Plan – which Burnham has backed – sets out nearly £300 billion of military spending over the next four years. Alongside £5 billion for drone technology, over £8 billion for fighter jets and £11 billion to increase weapons stockpiles, £64 billion will be spent on nuclear weapons – more than double every other area of military procurement. This is to fund the ongoing replacement of Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines and develop a new nuclear warhead. It is also to buy 12 nuclear-capable F35A fighter jets from Trump, so that Britain can launch new US nuclear weapons stationed at NATO bases across Europe – including at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
To fund it, Starmer made government departments cut capital spending projects worth nearly £7 billion across critical public services. Yet another £5 billion of cuts are planned in the autumn.
Andy Burnham – like new Chancellor John Healey and Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting – is continuing to argue that militarism will be a boon to British jobs and British workers. Yet this flies in the face of economic research and the lived reality for communities dominated by arms companies.
The government’s own data shows that military spending is one of the least jobs-rich areas of the economy, falling far behind transport, health, education and social care.
New research by the Transition Security Project shows that the Defence Investment Plan will result in a net loss of at least 10,000 jobs. This is precisely because military spending is being increased by making cuts to these critical public services.
Their research also shows that if cuts are used in the same way to fund the extra £5 billion in the autumn, these job losses would rise to 20,000.
The evidence is also staring us in the face. Places like Barrow-in Furness in Cumbria, which is dominated by the British Aerospace shipyard that has been making nuclear submarines for decades, has some of the highest levels of social deprivation in the country.
So, far from being an engine for reindustrialisation, this deadly ‘war-readiness’ agenda, will only devastate communities further. This is in a context where wages have been flatlining for nearly 30 years, whilst costs for rent, food and energy have rocketed. Our public services are crumbling and we’re on the brink of yet another cost-of-living crisis.
Raising awareness about this stark reality of these jobs losses and exposing this ‘defence dividend’ myth is absolutely critical – as it is a key plank of the new Burnham government’s attempt to force public opinion to back the war drive.
Whilst the Ministry of Defence and the arms industry is lobbying for even more money for military spending – backed by MPs lining up to support them – in real terms military spending is now actually higher than during the Cold War, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that Britain’s military spending has already increased by 32% since 2016. And Britain’s spending on nuclear weapons is now the third highest in the world, ahead of Russia.
Now more than ever, we need to galvanise the strong public support that exists for a total change in political direction – for a halt to this deadly war drive and nuclear threats – and to rebuild our public services. Redirecting £300 billion into transport, health, education, climate action and state-supported defence diversification is the engine for sustainable growth and jobs – and it will enable Britain to seriously tackle the real security threats we face from the looming global recession and devastating climate breakdown.