The Government’s Defence Industrial Strategy launched by Defence Secretary, John Healey, states ‘National security is the foundation for growth’. Whilst Healey presents this strategy as a response to a much more unstable and insecure world, in fact it is Britain’s escalatory role across the world that is driving this very instability. Speaking at a London …
Government commitment to spending billions more on defence scrutinised
An extra £2.9bn for the military was announced by the Chancellor while the budget for peace building and overseas aid stalls
Ahead of the Budget – GCOMS-UK Chair Dr Stuart Parkinson wrote the following article which was first published on Labour Outlook When Rachel Reeves delivers the first Budget by a Labour Chancellor in 15 years, she will do so against the backdrop of a £22bn ‘black hole’ and with media reports suggesting that £40bn in …
GCOMS-UK has been on the road over the past month, taking our message on cutting military spending to Conferences organised by supporting organisations and engaging with peace activists on the urgent need for action. With UK military spending currently running at more than £100,000 every minute, and the Labour Government committed to increase this by …
After six weeks of campaigning around the country, the General Election is behind us and we have a new government. MPs have taken their oaths and started the work of setting up their offices – so it’s a good time to reflect on what the new parliament may hold in store for those of us …
This blog is from economist Michael Burke and was first published on the CND website. Is more military spending, including nuclear spending, a good idea? And, if it is, where is the money coming from? These are quite important questions. Yet we have been through an entire general election campaign without these questions even being …
There are less than three weeks to go until the UK goes to the polls on Thursday 4 July, and this week parties have started to publish their manifestoes – setting out their vision for the next five years. Many of the commitments have been trailed well in advance of the announcements, so it is …
Campaigners from the Global Campaign on Military Spending UK (GCOMS-UK) have expressed their dismay at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement today (Tuesday 23 April) that UK military spending would reach 2.5% of GDP by 2030. Figures released yesterday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that the UK is already the highest spending …
New data on global military spending – published today – shows that last year it grew by 6.8% above inflation to a massive $2.44 trillion – the highest level since the end of the Cold War. The UK’s percentage increase – 7.9% – was higher than some of the largest NATO states including the USA, …
