SOCIALISTS cannot back warfare over welfare, MPs and campaigners warned today after former Nato boss George Robertson demanded the government axe social spending to finance its arms drive.

Lord Robertson, defence secretary under Tony Blair, set off a storm by slamming PM Sir Keir Starmer for “corrosive complacency” over the pace of increases in military spending.

He also claimed: “We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget.”

Leading left MP John McDonnell hit back, telling the Star: “We have got to stop the escalation in terms of more and more being demanded to be spent on the military, which is largely misspent and wasted.

“There is no way any socialist can stand by and see warfare prioritised over welfare.”

And Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German told the Star: “George Robertson was complicit in every one of Blair’s failed wars yet here he is shamelessly giving lectures on spending more and more money on funding still more of them, while also making the poor pay for them.

“When will these supposedly proud-to-be-Labour politicians get it that working people want and need welfare, not endless warfare.”

While Diane Abbott, presently suspended Labour MP, warned that only the Greens would gain if Labour followed Lord Robertson’s advice and put “guns before butter.

“We have already slashed foreign aid, and to cut welfare to spend on armaments is appalling,” she said. 

“People are going to start to wonder why they are voting Labour in the first place. It is not going to help us electorally.”

Lord Robertson’s outburst reflects frustration in the military-industrial complex and armed forces that Sir Keir has yet to sign off the detailed “defence investment plan” which aims to give effect to his promised huge increases in the arms bill.

The proportion of gross domestic product earmarked for arms is slated to rise from the 2 per cent Labour inherited to 5 per cent by the middle of the 2030s.

Labour has already eviscerated the overseas aid budget to fund the first phase of the military build-up and is now under pressure to find more money.

The Treasury is digging in its heels over any extra borrowing, which would imperil its fiscal rules, which Chancellor Rachel Reeves repeatedly declared “iron-clad.”

Doubtless reflecting her frustration, Ms Reeves slammed US President Donald Trump’s Iran war today as a “folly” which she was “angry” about, since its economic consequences had upset all her budgetary calculations.

Her remarks show that the government is becoming more prepared to criticise Mr Trump as he appears increasingly deranged.

Lord Robertson was scheduled to expand on his warnings in a speech in Salisbury last night, and Ms Reeves was not to be spared.

He was to attack the Chancellor for hardly addressing military spending in her most recent Budget and spending statements, as well as blaming the Treasury for “vandalism” over the military spending programme.

Displaying the full scope of the war psychosis gripping parts of the establishment, the ex-Nato secretary-general was to claim Britain is not safe.

“We are underprepared. We are underinsured. We are under attack. We are not safe. Britain’s national security and safety is in peril,” he was to rant.

However, his preference for attacking the welfare budget will be a challenge, since sufficient Labour MPs have rallied to defend it in the recent past from previous attempts at cuts by Sir Keir and Ms Reeves.

Nor are tax rises on the wealthy to foot the military bill seen as a politically palatable option for the government.

The Liberal Democrats have come out in favour of special government bonds – state borrowing – to raise £20 billion for arms, although Sir Keir’s plans call for much more.  

Lord Robertson’s onslaught was welcomed by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who said: “This is a former Labour defence secretary, former secretary-general, saying what I’ve been saying for the past few weeks.”

The Scottish National Party (SNP) also backed his dire warnings and called for more arms spending.

Retired brass hat General Richard Barrons weighed in, saying that “although the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force and the army are, in their bones, outstanding institutions, they are simply too small and too undernourished to deal with the world that we now live in.”

A government spokesman defended Labour’s record, saying it was embarking on “the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the cold war, with a total of over £270 billion being invested across this parliament,” while the defence investment plan was being finalised.