PEACE campaigners urged the prime minister to put “welfare before weapons” today as Sir Keir Starmer suggested joining a £78 billion arms loan for Ukraine would create jobs.

Today, Sir Keir announced Britain’s bid to join a European Union €90 billion (£78bn) loan for Kiev, claiming it would also be “very good” for relations with the EU.

He told members of the press at the European Political Community summit in Yerevan, Armenia, that the loan “was very good for Ukraine, because it will give Ukraine the capability that it desperately needs in year five of this conflict.

“It’s very good for the UK because of the capability that leads to jobs in the United Kingdom,” he said.

“And it’s very good for UK-EU relations, which is very important as we go on to the various discussions.”

In a meeting on Ukraine co-chaired by Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron, the PM justified his decision to go ahead with the loan, saying it is “vital” to work with other world leaders to end wars around the world.

He said the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East were affecting “every single household” in Britain, namely through the rise of energy costs.

Stop the War vice-chairman Chris Nineham hit back, telling Sir Keir that “most people in this country believe we should put welfare before warfare and wages before weapons.

“The fact is that militarism does not create British jobs, it just puts more money into the coffers of the arms industry and its shareholders.

“This is still more of Starmer’s determination to keep an unwinnable war going rather than calling for a negotiated peace, which most Ukrainians and Russians want.”

The loan initiative had long been blocked by the recently defeated Viktor Orban government in Hungary. After he lost the April elections, the EU approved the deal.

It would mean British arms firms will compete for contracts in return for a financial contribution from the government, which could reportedly reach up to £400 million.

Further sanctions on Russian companies will also be imposed later this week in an attempt to affect military supply chains, Downing Street said.