While events this year were overshadowed by the horrifying events in Ukraine, the movement came together to highlight the continued failure of military solutions to tackle the existential problems we face. Street demonstrations, Vigils & Stalls The first event of GDAMS in the UK was a demonstration on the evening of April 11th at Menwith …
Today’s launch of the annual Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) figures on military spending makes chilling reading. SIPRI estimates global military expenditure last year was at least $2,113 billion (US), the first time it has exceeded $2 trillion (US): an average of more than $5.78 billion (US) every day. This represents a 6.1% nominal …
The UK government’s Spring Statement announced that its core budget for the military, for the four years 2021-25, has been slightly increased from that given its Autumn Budget to £190.9 billion. The increase is £0.4bn, which includes £0.1bn of military aid (to date) for Ukraine. This expenditure level follows the largest increase in military spending …
“Instead of peace through strength we caused war through weakness… other democratic powers, especially in Europe, must commit to matching US defence spending as a proportion of GDP.” Jeremy Hunt MP, writing in The Telegraph 11/03/22 As the world watches in horror the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an extremely dangerous narrative is emerging. One that …
The Military Balance 2022, published today by The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) ranks the UK as the country with the third highest military spending in 2021, after the US and China. The IISS ranked the UK as the fourth largest spender in 2020 (behind India) and fifth for 2019 (after Russia). The changes …
On Monday the UK Ministry of Defence released its first ‘Defence Space Strategy‘ ominously sub-titled ‘Operationalising the Space Domain’. The report contained new spending commitments of an additional £1.4bn over 10 years to “to protect UK interests in space”, though it did not define what these interest might be. While we might wonder why a …
More than 50 Nobel Laureates have launched the Peace Dividend campaign calling for a reduction in international military spending of 2% per year over the next 5 years. Half of this money would be ring-fenced for pandemic control, climate change mitigation and the alleviation of extreme poverty. While many would wish to see a more …
Our review of yesterday’s UK budget figures reveals that in this parliament the UK government will spend over seven times as much on the military as on reducing national carbon emissions. It also reveals the impact of the UK’s changing foreign policy priorities, with any ‘savings’ from the 30% cut in overseas aid more than …
19 October 2021 UPDATE: HEAT & Buildings Strategy released Last night the UK Government annouced its Heat & Buildings Strategy . A disappointing document which commits only one-third of the new funding requested in the Great Homes Upgrade (below) and widely criticised as as a missed opportunity. Initial reactions “It’s not going to close the …
On 14 September the British Government-backed arms fair Defence and Security Equipment International was launched in London. A biennial defence and security trade exhibition that in 2019 welcomed 1,700 exhibitors from 58 countries, it has been the source of much criticism arising from concerns that a British-backed arm trade helps fuel human rights abuses worldwide. Despite such ethical concerns, …
