Amid calls for more military spending ahead of the Spring Statement, Britain’s failing nuclear weapons system is finally getting the scrutiny it deserves. Rather than cutting overseas aid, increasing taxes or enforcing austerity to foot the bill, Labour should scrap them instead!
Concerns over Britain’s dependence on the US for its nuclear weapons programme has led to suggestions that it’s time to end the US ‘special relationship’.
This comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil her latest plans for Britain’s economy on 26 March. A major increase in military spending is expected as part of those efforts with Keir Starmer’s government aiming to increase the MoD’s budget from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – that’s an extra £6 billion to the existing budget of £54.2bn.
Britain’s nuclear weapons account for at least 14% of the MoD’s total budget and its costs are growing. The Telegraph reported at the weekend that the cost of replacing the current system has risen by more than £5 billion in just three years and its various programmes have already eaten through a fifth of its £10 billion contingency fund.
The recently published annual report by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), the watchdog that oversees the government’s major projects, expressed serious concern about the viability of eight of Britain’s nuclear weapons programmes. It’s £4 billion project to build new nuclear reactors for the Dreadnought fleet was graded as ‘unachievable’.
Reeve’s claims that Labour’s military-industrial strategy will support Britain’s “left behind” industrial towns, as well as the wider economy. But as economist Michael Burke recently wrote for CND’s blog:
“…military spending has one of the lowest ‘employment multipliers’ of all economic categories. It ranks 70th in terms of the employment it generates, out of 100….Investing in health is two and half times more ‘jobs rich’ than investment in military spending.”
In short, more military spending won’t have the effect of raising living standards as Reeves claims. However, the intention to base our economy on a war drive has already been a boon for arms companies, who have seen share prices soar with forecasts suggesting that this trend will continue as European government’s move to rearm.
CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt said:
“It’s good that Britain’s failing nuclear weapons programme is getting increased scrutiny. It’s dangerous, unaffordable and it’s definitely not independent. While the Prime Minister may indeed press the nuclear button, the missiles are leased from the US, the warhead is a US design and the whole nuclear weapons system is under US-led NATO command. This means that the British government has always been under the US nuclear thumb. And now, with Trump in the White House, Britain is beholden to his reckless ‘America First’ agenda. Rather than spending billions on weapons that don’t keep us safe and make us poorer, Britain should scrap its nuclear weapons and develop a genuinely independent foreign policy based on diplomacy, peace and global justice.”