Diverse coalition urges PM to rethink military spending
More than fifty humanitarian, climate and peacebuilding organisations are urging Keir Starmer to rethink Britain's growing military spending, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara.
The joint letter, organised by Quakers in Britain and Rethinking Security, follows this week's Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which promised a further £15 billion for the military.
Signatories including CAFOD, Green New Deal Rising and the Iona Community warn against skewing funding away from other forms of international engagement.
The shift represents a "staggering shift" of resources from productive to destructive ends, at a time of armed conflict, inequality and climate breakdown.
Development, diplomacy, peacebuilding, and conflict and atrocity prevention are all essential and underfunded tools in building a safer world, they say.
Signatories say:
- The UK's military spending is on track to reach its highest level since the Second World War
- The ratio of military to development spending will soon reach almost nine-to-one, up from below four-to-one six years ago.
- The UK's nuclear weapons programme now exceeds Russia's spending and is the third most expensive in the world.
They warn the Prime Minister will face pressure in Ankara to further entrench the UK in a "war-orientated economy."
He should instead strengthen the UK's role in peacebuilding, climate cooperation and international justice, they write.
Hannah Brock Womack of Quakers in Britain said the DIP took money from every government department, while "we're told there's not enough money for decent social care."
"These are political choices. They are not inevitable and they are not uncontroversial," she said.
"As Quakers we are driven by our faith, and in this letter, we join a diverse range of organisations also saying: stop, think again, this is the wrong path."
Ruth Harvey, leader of the Iona Community, said peace was "an active process of making things whole and restoring what is broken."
"We've signed this letter as part of our commitment to reconciliation and disarmament," she said.
"These are the tools which help us follow Jesus' example of nonviolent action, which we are still called to today."
A copy of the letter will be sent to Andy Burnham MP, Keir Starmer's likely successor.