In a statement to the house on Thursday 19th November Boris Johnson committed to significant new spending on the UK’s armed forces: an additional £16.5bn – amounting to a real terms increase of £24bn when combined with the already declared increase of over £7bn by 2024-25. This is a staggering sum to spend on weaponry at a time when the health, care and social systems of the UK are in crisis after ten years of government imposed austerity.
There has been some worthwhile media analysis, particularly the Guardian on how the money will be spent and it’s implications and the Independent on Keir Starmer’s apparent support for the announcement. For the best overview of how this will impact British foreign policy going forward we recommend these articles by Prof. Paul Rogers and Prof. Mary Kaldor.
The move has been roundly criticised by campaigners with Kate Hudson of CND stating,
“Boris Johnson’s decision to approve the biggest increase in defence spending in decades shows that the Government is completely out of touch with the real threats to Britain’s security.
n the face of the climate emergency, the coronavirus pandemic, and a major economic downturn, the Government is spending billions on weapons systems and extending sabre-rattling to outer space. Instead of properly funding the NHS and fixing the test and trace disaster, Boris Johnson seems to have opted for a cold war tribute act.”
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said:
“This is a totally inappropriate response to the pandemic. Only a matter of days ago the government was telling us that there wasn’t enough money to feed hungry school students during the holidays, but now it has found an extra £16 billion to add to what was already one of the biggest military budgets in the world.
Rethinking Security Co-ordinator Richard Reeve said:
“By prioritising military spending over other means of influencing international security, the government is sending a powerful signal that Global Britain’s security strategy is increasingly and overwhelmingly about projecting military power”
Theresa Alessandro, from Pax Christi, said:
“We agree with Rethinking Security’s analysis. In apportioning more money to the military, our government is revealed to be out of step with the now commonly-understood insight that military approaches cannot help us with the major risks we face, such as pandemics and climate change. In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis cautions that: ‘War is not a ghost from the past but a constant threat. Our world is encountering growing difficulties on the slow path to peace upon which it had embarked and which had already begun to bear good fruit’. More military spending continues to lead us away from peace.
Paul Parker, Recording Clerk of Quakers in Britain said:
“Quakers are led by our faith to work for a fairer and greener society in which every human life is sacred. We set out our suggestions on how to achieve this in our submission to the spending review. We were disappointed today to see how greatly the government’s priorities differ from our own.”
Take Action!
There has never been a more important time to make our voices heard on every platform available to us. The horrific pandemic being suffered across the globe should be a time for increased co-operation, but instead of ‘building back better’ we see a return to cold-war era posturing.
Write to your MP
One of the most alarming elements of this squandering of public resource has been the support given by the official opposition. We know there are MPs out there who will stand up for public services, ask your MP to lend their voice.
