“Starmer’s war drive worsens global threats & makes working people even worse off.”
By Sophie Bolt, CND General Secretary
Starmer argues that the huge hike in military spending and nuclear expansion will keep us safe, boost jobs and kick start the economy. Nothing could be further from the truth.
His disastrous war drive worsens global threats and makes working people even worse off. So, as we approach the TUC this year it is critical that trade unionists unite to reject this acceleration to ‘war-readiness’. Instead, the considerable force of the trade union movement needs to be directed at this government, forcing it to invest in the real security needs of people in Britain and globally.
Central to this acceleration to war, is Starmer’s decision to purchase 12 US F-35A nuclear-capable fighter jets, hinted at in the Strategic Defence Review. This marks a significant expansion in the country’s nuclear capability, meaning that Britain will be able to launch nuclear weapons from both the sea and sky. These F35A fighter jets can launch US satellite-guided nuclear bombs now deployed to NATO bases across Europe, and here at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. Each bomb has the destructive power to kill over 600,000 people and release toxic radiation that causes birth defects and generational cancers. Yet the US administration have designed them to be used on the battlefield, alongside conventional weapons.
With the continuing war in Ukraine and the genocidal actions of nuclear-armed Israel threatening the Middle East, Britain’s nuclear expansion makes the world even more dangerous. Far from protecting the British population, Starmer’s plans to buy Donald Trump’s nuclear capable fighter jets, that launch his nuclear bombs, ties Britain even closer to the dangerous leadership of US President who threatens us all with his global war drive – and puts Britain on the nuclear frontline.
This nuclear expansion is part of Starmer’s reckless war drive which is draining public funds away from essential public services and making the population poorer. His war-mongering rhetoric to justify these spending levels on lethal weaponry is further strengthening the politics of the far right which has been massively bolstered by Trump’s re-election. Racist thugs are terrorising refugees, whipping up hatred and intolerance to divide our communities.
Starmer’s drive to ‘war readiness’ has nothing to do with kick-starting the economy and creating sustainable jobs. Research by the Scottish Government has shown that investment in defence is among the least effective ways to create jobs or stimulate long-term economic growth. You only have to visit communities dominated by the nuclear industry, like Barrow-in-Furness or Devonport, to see the levels of social deprivation. Both these towns have poverty levels higher than the national average. In reality, the ‘investment’ going into the local economies ends up in the pockets of shareholders of arms company like BAE and Babcocks.
Given the widespread evidence of bullying, abuse and sexual assault within the military, all trade unionists should be chilled by the government’s plans, also laid out in the Strategic Defence Review, to drive army cadet recruitment in schools and local communities. It aims to increase cadet forces across the country by 30 per cent by 2030. Currently 30% of army recruits are 16-17 year olds. Recruitment campaigns target primarily deprived areas. Research by organisations like the Child Rights International Network reveals serious welfare concerns at the British Army’s Foundation College in Harrogate, where all young recruits are trained. The impact of Stramer’s military spending hikes is only going to push communities into further poverty, increasing the pressure on working class young people to join up.
So it is vital that trade unionists campaign stand up against this war drive.
The trade union movement has a critical role to play in securing a change in direction from the Starmer government. We need a leadership and that will tackle the underlying causes driving real human insecurity. This means reversing the devastation of poverty and deprivation and instead investing in sustainable house building programmes, driving a huge recruitment campaign in our health and education systems, and funding a just transition through green jobs, skills and infrastructure.
CND is supporting the work of the RMT to promote just this: an alternative defence review. The Report, published in June, challenges the UK government’s narrative of “warfighting readiness” and job creation myth of defence spending, putting forward an alternative strategy for secure, unionised, socially useful jobs with a Just Transition for defence-dependent workers and communities. CND is hosting a fringe meeting on Monday 8 September with speakers including RMT’s Alex Gordon, the Report’s editor, Professor Karen Bell, and Unison NEC member Micaela Tracey-Ramos. They’ll discuss these proposals and the need for a labour and peace movement campaign in support of a bold, alternative vision to militarisation. We’re also urging all TUC delegates to back the UCU motion P37 ‘Wages not weapons’, overturning its wrong policy and reasserting its commitment for welfare and wages, not weapons and war.
- Sophie Bolt is General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament: you can follow her on Twitter/X and Instagram, and CND on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and TikTok.
- This article was originally published on the CND website on 20 June 2025.
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Starmer needs weapons to ensure that the Russians remain in Russia, and that the Jews remain in Palestine