UNIONS and peace campaigners will launch an alternative defence review on Friday aimed at an alternative to the government’s militarism.

The report, initiated by trade unionists and anti-war activists, comes the week before Labour publishes its own strategic defence review, backed by huge increases in military spending.

Alternative Defence Review editor Karen Bell, a professor at Glasgow University, said: “This report offers a credible, democratic alternative to militarism: a sustainable economy grounded in social justice, global solidarity, and the urgent need to build peace — not war — for the 21st century.”

The review has been produced by a working group chaired by former CND general secretary Kate Hudson, now the campaign’s vice-president, and calls for a radical break with successive British governments’ failed security and defence policies.

These, it argues, distort Britain’s national priorities, fuel global instability, undermine international law, harm the environment and divert investment from public services and social infrastructure. 

The government’s own review is expected to be used to justify increased spending on the military, set under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to raise to 2.5 per cent of GDP within the next two years and to 3 per cent in the next parliament. 

Already, the overseas aid budget and disability benefits are being slashed to pay for the extra arms spending.

The alternative review “sets out the case for a radical shift toward a significantly demilitarised defence strategy rooted in human security and common security — prioritising diplomacy, global co-operation, conflict prevention, and investment in health, education, climate resilience, social care, and the creation of well-paid, secure, unionised and socially useful jobs.”

Other members of the working group include John Foster of the University of Paisley/UWS; Hugh Kirkbride from Unite the union in a personal capacity; Marjorie Mayo of University of London and Kevan Nelson, Unison assistant general secretary, also in a personal capacity.

The report aims to promote discussion within the movement on alternatives to government policy. 

Main proposals include a significant reduction in military expenditure, within a framework of a just transition; fully implementing United Nations policies on climate change; using British influence to secure speedy resolution of existing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East; de-escalating tension in the Pacific; opposing attempts to create new military conflicts and an immediate halt to arms exports to rogue governments, including Israel.