THE WORLD is becoming an increasingly dangerous place. Global spending on arms and defence rose in 2024, and we can see the push to militarisation continuing to accelerate in 2025. The threat of imperialist war has become the backdrop to the aim to rebuild our country.

To our shame, the British government has taken a leading role in the drive to war. Initially following the direction of Nato and US foreign policy and subsequent to President Trump’s disruption, unable to realign its own thinking, our government pursues a belligerent and reckless course of continuing to rearm Ukraine. Keir Starmer even suggests the posting of British troops in that country. Russia has already said that it would see this as an act of war.

Sorry as we may be for the Ukrainian people, they are now engaged in a war of attrition they cannot win. They are not even in a position to continue making war without US support. It is better for all concerned to recognise that and make a peace now than to pursue an interminable war that results in further destruction of life and infrastructure.

We need only remember Boris Johnson railing against “a shitty peace” in 2022 during peace negotiations and ask ourselves how three years of bloody conflict has enhanced Ukraine’s security.

Britain under the Conservatives, and now Labour, has persistently done all it can to prolong the war. We currently see Starmer posturing on the world stage. He insults and threatens Russia, but his promises to Ukraine are empty.

After years of austerity, the entire British army has shrunk to a size that would not even fill Wembley stadium. We have already taken from our stockpile of weapons to give to Ukraine, and we no longer have the industrial capacity to rearm ourselves — we would be completely dependent on others, probably on the US. We have yet to see what becomes of Starmer’s “coalition of the willing,” but we already know that the Americans are not among that number.

We are told that it is imperative to support Ukraine to win the war, or else Russia will have free rein to dominate and invade other European countries. Some voices have disputed the level of threat that Russia poses and say this is a vast exaggeration of Russia’s capabilities.

Whatever the threat of Russia to Britain and our European neighbours, it is self-evident that the best way to preserve peace is not to engage in an arms race, but to negotiate.

Currently, and shockingly, the only discussion we hear is of arming and militarisation. There is an unseemly rush to spend more on arms and to confront Russia. And yet we so clearly and urgently need an infrastructure to enable negotiations and diplomacy to resolve differences between Russia, the rest of Europe and within Europe.

After all, if our government can negotiate with China, it can negotiate with Russia and if the US can negotiate with Russia, so can we. When David Lammy says that Russia is a mafia state wishing to make a mafia empire, let us remember that Britain is not above maintaining diplomatic relations with other rogue, repressive and disruptive regimes.

It is also clear that the US is not our friend, if it ever was. Same old, same old is no longer an option, and the sooner our government wakes up to that fact, the better. Without US support, Nato is dead in the water. Instead of scrabbling around to bolster Nato, continuing its warmongering rhetoric or allowing the US to re-site its nuclear missiles on our soil, we are presented with an opportunity to extract ourselves.

With vision and good leadership, we could focus our resources on building the capability to maintain our peace, defend ourselves and forge an independent foreign policy that puts the interests and defence of British working people at its centre.

Real security comes from having a secure base at home. And that is why there is an urgent need for investment and rebuilding of British manufacturing, services, including health and education and the capability to feed ourselves.

The Audit Commission report (September 2024) into spending on Ukraine cited a cost of £7.8 billion, due to rise to £8.4bn as we replace weapons we have given to Ukraine from our own stockpile. Starmer has pledged more since.

We know this money, which is distinct from the increase in spending on defence, comes from Treasury Reserves (money kept to bail out government departments that overspend — most recently Education, Transport and Health and Social Care). Increases in the defence budget will come from cuts to overseas aid. We also know that we face cuts to welfare provision and a Budget which will make further widespread cuts.

Imagine if that £8.4bn had been used to bring failing water companies back into public ownership, or to renationalise railways, or to improve hospitals and schools, or even to bolster our own armed services after years of austerity and cuts.

More than at any other time in our recent history, we are at a point where our actions could spiral into widespread war, or we could actively pursue the goals of peace, independence and prosperity. This current warmongering cannot stand.

Sally Spiers is a London CND member.