Anti-War campaigners have condemned the government for committing to a multi-billion pound package of investment in the UK’s nuclear weapons programme.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said the announcement by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on Tuesday meant an extra £6 billion in spending over the next six years.
CND general secretary Kate Hudson said the decision, part of the government’s Defence Command Paper 2023, was a political choice “to deny crumbling public services vital funds while spending billions of pounds on maintaining and investing in these weapons of mass destruction.”
She said: “A week ago, the Prime Minister was announcing a below-inflation pay rise for public-sector workers, insisting it was their best and final offer.
“Now, the Defence Secretary is finding billions of pounds of new money for nuclear weapons seemingly without any pushback.
“They say there’s no magic money tree to fix the NHS, our schools, or the planet, but there always seem to be billions more pounds of taxpayers’ money available for weapons of mass destruction that can destroy us all.”
Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition said: “It’s typical of this government that it denies workers a decent wage but is willing to spend billions on the deadliest of weapons.”
She said the spending “does nothing to make the world a safer space.
“If we want security it should start with a decent housing, health and education spending – not weapons of mass destruction.”
Mr Wallace said lessons learned on the battlefields of Ukraine have triggered a shake-up of Britain’s approach to its defence.
But the Peace Pledge Union said: “It’s time we stopped saying ‘defence’ when we mean ‘war.’
“The only thing increased military spending will defend is the profits of arms dealers.”
Source: Morning Star