Diane Abbott: Welfare Not Warfare must be Our Banner

“It is a cliché that to govern is to choose, but it should be clear with these policies that the government is making all the wrong choices.”

By Diane Abbott

The government seems to be in denial about its own actions. It is clearly implementing austerity and doing at a time when they are very significantly increasing military spending. It is a cliché that to govern is to choose, but it should be clear with these policies that the government is making all the wrong choices.

This is not a discussion confined to activists and policy wonks. At least two national newspapers have made the link, with one splashing on its front page that the government is creating a warfare state. The tv news and social media are full of the effects of the welfare cuts.

Most people do not wait with bated breath for a Chancellor’s statement and fewer still follow the details of military budgets. But very many of them have made this link, and a very large proportion of the public are angry and frightened by a drive towards rearmament and the fact that it is being paid for by the poorest in this society and internationally.

Now is the time for peace campaigners, opponents of rearmament and all the forces opposing austerity and the cuts to welfare to come together, under the banner of Welfare, Not Warfare.

As we do, we will have to confront some of the key arguments made by the supporters of these policies. Clearly, the claim that ‘there is no money left’ cannot be stood up, when there are billions of pounds being found for the military budget.

Supporters of rearmament have been forced onto another tack, with the claim that money spent will be good for the economy and good for jobs. The Chancellor even talked about spreading these benefits across the country geographically.

But these supposed benefits are a fiction. They cannot be spread, because they do not exist.

Missiles, bullets and tanks cannot help to create anything. Their only purpose is to destroy people and things. They are the opposite of investment in a computer, a factory or a machine tool, all of which add to the productive capacity of the economy as they can be used to make other, useful things. So, any funds spent on the military is dead money, a dud investment.

Expenditure on military hardware is also not a significant job creator, as its supporters claim. This is because it is a capital-intensive sector of the economy, not labour-intensive. This point was stressed by the Office of Budget Responsibility in its assessment of the recent Spring Statement.

If the government wants to boost the economy it should invest in housing, health, education, transport and infrastructure. That would provide a lasting boost to the economy, provide real benefits and create many more jobs for the same amount of money.

Of course, the other area for funding should be welfare. It provides a needed support to some of the poorest and most vulnerable.  It also provides a real social benefit, unlike the current war drive.

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• Diane has tabled a Parliamentary Motion challenging the government’s prioritising of military spending over key support for those in need in Britain and around the world. You can ask your MP to sign it here.
• Diane Abbott is the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington: you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
• This article was originally published on the website of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) on 31 March. You can follow CND on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.