Starmer’s Labour has massively increased arms spending since taking office. It’s unashamedly pro-NATO and refuses to severe ties with Israel regardless of the genocide in Gaza. It has tethered itself so desperately to Trump that Starmer has taken the lead among NATO leaders in pushing for huge military spending hikes. The new Labour government’s strategic defence review was published early in its term in order to justify gross increases in military spending to 2.5% of GDP over the next few years, and to 3% in the next parliament.
At the same time, the NHS is facing chronic staff shortages, our schools are crumbling and our public services failing. These are political choices – so much of Britain’s infrastructure and welfare state could be restored with just a fraction of the money spent on arms and the military.
Join us and leading trade unionists at this year’s TUC congress in Brighton for our fringe meeting: Welfare Not Warfare – Stop Arming Israel – Stop Starmer’s militarism. Speakers include StWC convenor Lindsey German, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote and NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede.