“Military priorities must be evaluated, not taken as read.”
Carol Turner argues military spending must not be taken as read.
Has ‘Securonomics’ overlooked defence?
The General Election was fought on the need for fiscal responsibility to get Britain’s economy back on track. Every policy hint, let alone manifesto promise, had to be costed; and every news outlet engaged in fact-checking the cost of Party policies.
Until it came to military spending, that is. Rachel Reeves’ ‘Securonomics’ appears to have overlooked an important area of Labour’s manifesto commitments: to raise military spending to 2.5%. “Our commitment to the UK’s nuclear deterrent is absolute. It is a vital safeguard for the UK and our NATO allies”, the Labour manifesto said. ”Labour will conduct a Strategic Defence Review within our first year in government, and we will set out the path to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence.”
Almost indecent haste
Within two weeks of taking office, Keir Starmer laid out the terms of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), with a report due in the first half of 2025. Overseen by Defence Secretary John Heaney, it’s being conducted by three external reviewers, led by former Defence Secretary & NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson, with former US presidential advisor Dr Fiona Hill, and former Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Richard Barrons.
In line with the trend of the past decade, the SDR’s terms of reference include protecting against threats to UK economic growth and prosperity, as well as more traditional dangers such as ‘war in Europe’ and ‘conflict in the Middle East’.
The parameters within which contributions are invited make clear this is no Defence Review of the type led by Emily Thornberry for Jeremy Corbyn in 2016. The SDR will consider the following:
• The efficiency and effectiveness of the nuclear programme, within the government’s “total commitment to the independent UK nuclear deterrent”;
• Enhancing the UK’s contribution to the NATO alliance and sustaining a ‘NATO first’ defence policy;
• Ways to maintain the UK’s defence ties to the Indo Pacific, the Gulf, and the Middle East; and
• The path to spending 2.5% GDP on defence.
The latter, we’re told, “will be dealt with at a future fiscal event”, presumably meaning the announcement of a spending commitment outside the 2025 budget.
No news on how we engage with the review
The SDR will “engage widely across the defence community” – from the general public, as well as academics, Parliament, and the UK’s closest allies and partners, especially in NATO. However, despite the deadline of the end of September, a call for submissions wasn’t issued until the very end of August.
Local parties and labour movement organisations have every interest in intervening in this process if the Government is to really make a difference to the cost-ofliving crisis and the lives of the majority. Military priorities must be evaluated, not taken as read, and military spending must be subject to the same fiscal rules as everything else.
- Carol Turner is a member of Vauxhall & Camberwell Green CLP, Labour CND, and the CLPD Executive.
- This article was originally published in CLPD’s Campaign Briefing Newsletter. Read it in full here.
- You can also read Labour Outlook’s 2024 Autumn Conference bulletin here.
