This is the most militaristic election in a while. It’s started with a bang, with prime minister Rishi Sunak’s ‘national service’ proposal (see here) and it comes against the backdrop of eye-watering promises on military spending by both the main parties.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said on 11 April that a Labour government would increase military spending to 2.5 percent of national income ‘as soon…
Last year, there was a 62 percent jump in planned spending by the defence nuclear organisation (DNO) over the next 10 years on equipment related to British nuclear weapons. That’s according a government national audit office (NAO) report published in December, comparing 10-year spending plans published in 2022 and 2023.
The DNO is responsible for most British nuclear weapons equipment acquisition, including the development of new ‘Dreadnought’ submarines to replace Trident.
…
‘Rearmament’ was the key theme of French president Emmanuel Macron’s traditional New Year ‘Wishes to the Nation’ speech on 31 December, writes Marc Morgan.
The economy? Our ‘economic rearmament’ leaves us better prepared. Our answer to social issues? ‘Re-establishing authority’ and ‘civic rearmament’. Our public services? We will ‘re-arm the state’. Our answer to a troubled world? ‘The rearmament of the nation’.
In 10 years, the military budget has been doubled. The national…
Within days of it being launched, 2,000 people are said to have signed a Stop the War Coalition open letter opposing a call for increased military spending from the Trade Union Congress (TUC), a union federation in England and Wales.
The Stop the War petition, put out in the run-up to May Day, was a response to a motion passed at the TUC congress last October. This supported ‘immediate increases in defence spending’ and demanded ‘a 30-year pipeline of defence work across sectors’,…
Transnational Institute reports:
30 November: Smoke Screen: How states are using the war in Ukraine to drive a new arms race www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3974
14 November: Climate Collateral: How Military Spending Accelerates Climate Breakdown www.tinyurl.com/peacenews3975
At the end of November, the Daily Telegraph learned that the British ministry of defence (MoD) had increased the number of soldiers due to be cut from the army from 7,000 to 16,500 by April 2015.
Up to a quarter of Britain's infantry battalions and almost half of its cavalry regiments could be disbanded.
Also in November, the national audit office (NAO) reported that financial incompetence by the MoD had led to delays in deploying new
Astute-class submarines, which in…
