The sky’s the limit seems to be the attitude of this Labour government – at least when it comes to spending on arms. On Tuesday it committed to 5% of GDP on ‘defence’ spending by 2035 at the Nato summit – which will mean around double being spent on war than at the beginning of Keir Starmer’s term of office. The next day, defence secretary John Healey announced that Britain was buying 12 F35 jets, which are nuclear capable, and which are to carry US nuclear bombs.
These bombs cannot be used without the permission of the US president and will be on the frontline of nuclear confrontation with Russia.
The cost of these fighter planes is around $82.5 million, with millions more on preparing the air force base at RAF Marham to house them and paying for the bombs. While these Labour ministers seem to delight in amassing ever more weapons of war, they are singing a different tune when it comes to public services and welfare payments. Indeed, Starmer faces one of the biggest rebellions of his own party for decades as he tries to put through cuts for disability payments to some of the poorest people in the country.
It is hard to credit the logic of the cuts when we are told that the government must cut welfare payments to balance its books but grovels to Donald Trump and the Nato leaders to implement policies which will make the vast majority of people in Britain poorer and more of a target in the event of war.
It is also hard to credit a government that supports the bombing of Iran, supposedly to rid it of nuclear weapons, but in that very same month decides that it will spend huge amounts expanding its already substantial nuclear arsenal.
Britain is the sixth largest arms spender in the world – but its infrastructure is privatised and decaying, its working-class population getting poorer, its NHS in tatters and education system in crisis. Far from doing anything to remedy this situation, the government’s addiction to arms spending is getting worse. It is now supporting a major propaganda exercise in schools called ‘Permission to Expand’, aimed at promoting the armed forces. Quaintly called ‘reconnecting’ defence with society, this is government money used to boost the military and indoctrinate children.
The Ministry of Defence is working with the Department for Education “to develop understanding of the armed forces among young people in schools”. We know that there is serious opposition to wars among people in Britain and especially among young people, who face the threat of future conscription.
It is shameful that a Labour government which can offer so little to young people in terms of jobs, housing, education and much more should be promising a future of militarism and war. The latest plan for more nuclear weapons threatens us all and we must oppose it. It will only fuel more warmongering and more wars.
If we want security, then let’s spend money on what people actually need, not on killing working class people from other countries.