ANTI-WAR campaigners have slammed government plans to invest £250 million into the military and security industries across Britain and Northern Ireland.

Defence Secretary John Healey announced today that Cardiff, Belfast, Glasgow, Sheffield and Plymouth would receive the funding as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy, which the government says will create jobs and fuel growth.

It follows the government’s increase in defence spending to 2.6 per cent of GDP by 2027, rising to 3 per cent in the next parliament.

Clive Higgins, chief executive of Italian defence contractor Leonardo, which exports arms to Israel, welcomed the funding.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer indicated last week that a £10 billion deal to build Norwegian warships at BAE Systems’ Glasgow shipyards will be the first of many.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said Mr Healey’s claims on community growth “should fool no-one.”

She told the Star: “Military spending generates far less overall economic activity than spending on essential services and infrastructure.

“What’s more, this focus on creating defence jobs is deeply divisive, prioritising workers in the arms industry against the great majority of workers in other sectors and, in particular, the public services.

“We see how Starmer and Healey’s militarism and the genocide they are enabling in Palestine is being paid for from the pockets of working people, from the disabled and the elderly — from the very fabric of our public services and the welfare state.

“It is simply grotesque, and why we back the trade unions who are this week demanding the TUC ditch its policy of increased military spending for one of wages, not warfare.”

Sam Perlo-Freeman of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade warned that spending on the industry is “one of the least effective ways of creating jobs,” while further “spurring a damaging arms race that threatens global peace and generates vast quantities of climate-destroying emissions.”

“If the government wants to create far more jobs, while spurring real innovation and helping build a safer, cleaner, greener, planet, it should be investing in clean energy and other climate technologies.”

Meanwhile, the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair will kick off in London tomorrow, with thousands of exhibitors and buyers dealing in weapons, some of which have been linked to the genocide in Gaza.

Actions have been taking place in the past week outside the Excel Centre as exhibitors set up, and more protests are planned over the next few days to greet attendees.