ANTI-WAR campaigners branded calls to increase Britain’s military spending obscene today.
Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Foreign Office Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan broke government ranks to say defence spending should be raised as soon as possible, claiming that Britain must invest at a much greater pace in a joint post on social media last week.
But Stop the War coalition convener Lindsey German told the Morning Star: “Britain is the highest spender on the military in Europe and the sixth biggest in the world.
“Billions are spent on weapons that will never be used. The demand for more spending is obscene and is because Nato is involved in a war that it cannot win without escalating to full-scale war with Russia.
“Britain is also supporting and arming Israel in its genocidal war against the Palestinians.
“We need an alternative to ever-growing militarism and war, which is threatening the future of humanity.
“Meanwhile our public services are crumbling and the NHS is in crisis — yet no Tory MPs back the call for more money for them.”
The ministers’ LinkedIn article followed hawkish criticism of Jeremy Hunt’s Budget for failing to raise defence spending, with the Chancellor saying it would be increased to 2.5 per cent “as soon as economic conditions allow.”
Mr Tugendhat declined to say today whether Downing Street had cleared the article but renewed his call for urgency. He told Sky News: “I want to achieve 2.5 per cent now — you know, as soon as possible.”
On Friday the Commons spending watchdog warned that the Ministry of Defence has no credible plan to fund the armed forces the government wants, with the gap between its budget and the cost of desired military capabilities having ballooned to £16.9 billion, its largest deficit ever.
But the public accounts committee warned that the real deficit could be closer to £29bn as some parts of the armed forces only included capabilities that were affordable rather than all those the government had requested.
Mr Tugendhat and Ms Trevelyan claimed the global risk posed by countries including Russia and China meant there was no time for delay. “The sad truth is that the world is no longer benign,” they said.
Number 10 said it wouldn’t expect to sign off on “social media posts which are in line with previously announced and agreed government policy.”
