TRADE unionists have branded Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to raise military spending an “absolute abomination,” ahead of a hotly anticipated TUC Congress debate tomorrow.

Former RMT president Alex Gordon said yesterday that the transport workers’ union would “100 per cent” back a motion by the University and College Union (UCU) calling on the TUC to oppose government plans for a bigger military budget.

Addressing a Welfare not Warfare rally called by the Stop the War Coalition outside the conference hall in Brighton, he condemned a “succession of reactionary positions adopted by our movement” with regards to military spending, which is now set to increase to 3 per cent of GDP.

US President Donald Trump called on Nato allies earlier this year to increase military spending to 5 per cent.

“Five per cent of GDP is more money than we spend on our NHS. It is an absolute abomination what is being perpetrated by politicians and we cannot support it,” said Mr Gordon.

“The labour movement has to say this is not in the interests of people of this country.

“The fact is that this is not just an abstract phrase — we are nearing the point where a conflict between nuclear-armed powers is going to happen in our lifetimes. 

“It’s our responsibility that the labour movement stands for peace not war, for spending money for food and our public services and our welfare state, not on destroying lives through arms spending.”

UCU is to argue that rearmament is not a suitable stand-alone foundation for national renewal and that, “in the current political context, ever-higher expenditure on arms will inevitably mean less money for our education, health and councils and the green transition.”

The union will on the TUC to declare that British participation in the F-35 fighter jet programme “implicates it in Israel’s grave violations of international law in Gaza” and will urge the union federation to reverse its policy, in place since 2022, of supporting immediate increases in military spending.

Defence Secretary John Healey will launch his Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) today, aiming to create new defence growth deals across Britain backed by £250 million over the next five years with a promise of thousands of jobs and stronger regional economies.

“The DIS will make defence an engine for growth across the UK, backing British jobs, British industry and British innovators,” he said yesterday.