“Whilst Robertson is trying to present this as about defending national security, it is precisely the government’s warmongering and military escalation that is threatening our security now.”
By the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
A former British head of NATO and co-author of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review has called on Keir Starmer to cut welfare spending further to fund Britain’s war drive.
George Robertson, who was Tony Blair’s Defence Secretary before serving as NATO General Secretary from 1999 to 2003, has stated that successive British leaders had shown “corrosive complacency” to military spending. He is quoted as saying, “We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget.”
Former Conservative defence ministers, Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps, are also calling for further slashes to welfare to fuel military spending hikes.
The intervention from Robertson comes as the government’s existing military spending plans face a £28 billion spending gap. That’s before the ambitions outlined in last year’s SDR are considered. Between 20 and 25% of the Ministry of Defence’s budget goes on nuclear weapons spending.
Starmer has rightly come under pressure not to enforce further austerity measures to fund war spending. A recent study published by Oxford University found welfare cuts implemented by the former Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government left an “austerity generation” with a fifth of children growing up ‘scarred by poverty’ because of its policies.
That warning comes as the full economic impact of Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal war on Iran is yet to be felt. The UN has warned that the global impact of the crisis could see 32 million people forced into poverty globally amid rising food and energy costs.
CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt said:
“Whilst Robertson is trying to present this as about defending national security, it is precisely the government’s warmongering and military escalation that is threatening our security now. Making further cuts to public services – at a time when we are facing even greater attacks on living standards due to the US illegal war on Iran – would be disastrous. It will create even greater levels of social deprivation and insecurity in Britain. Starmer needs to cut ties with the Trump administration, close down US access to British bases, and promote a policy of peace and dialogue that respects international law – not buckling to pressure for further military escalation.”
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- This statement was originally published by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) on April 14 2026.
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