“It’s time to end the wasteful spending on war and nuclear weapons and redirect it into tackling the real security issues we face.”
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has called on the government to cut wasted billions on nukes ahead of its Defence Investment Plan announcement.
CND is calling on the government to stop wasting public money on its nuclear black hole, after the latest nuclear weapons spending report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) reveals that Britain is now spending more on its nuclear weapons than Russia.
Collectively, the nine nuclear-weapon states spent a record $119 billion in 2025 on maintaining, modernising, and expanding their nuclear arsenals, an increase of 19% ($16.8 billion) on their 2024 bill.
Britain overtook Russia as the world’s third biggest spender, spending $12.6 billion (£9.6 billion), an increase of 17%.
This spending includes:
- operating costs of Britain’s current four Vanguard nuclear-armed submarines
- building the replacement to Vanguard – the Dreadnought submarine
- maintenance of Britain’s nuclear weapons stockpile
- development of a new nuclear warhead, Project Astraea
It does not include the costs of the 12 F-35A nuclear-capable fighter jets that the government announced it was purchasing in June 2025. This shocking surge in nuclear spending comes as the government’s own Public Accounts Committee criticised the MoD for a lack of transparency over its ‘ever-increasing nuclear expenditure’, which is expected to rise to 20% of the total MoD budget for 2025–26, and again increase further to up to 25% in the coming years.
According to ICAN, the top nuclear spender globally was again the US, which spent $69.2 billion, an increase of 22% from 2024, outspending all other nuclear weapons states combined. China was second, spending $13.5 billion, an increase of 7%. Behind Britain was Russia, with an increase by 6% to $9.5 billion. Of the others, France spent $7.7 billion, India spent $2.8 billion, Pakistan spent $1.5 billion, Israel spent £1.2 billion, and North Korea spent $656 million.
The report also found that arms companies involved in the manufacture of Britain’s weapons had sought to influence government policy. According to Open Access data cited in the report, senior government figures met with representatives of the following arms companies: Airbus, Amentum, Babcock International, BAE Systems, Bechtel, Boeing, General Dynamics, Honeywell International, Leidos, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Peraton, Rolls Royce, RTX (Raytheon), Safran and Thales. The report noted that Airbus and BAE Systems, which had 44 and 35 meetings respectively, also included meetings with the Prime Minister’s office.
CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt said:
“This is a timely report that comes when the British government is planning to make savage cuts to public spending in order to fund more hikes to military spending. Britain’s nuclear weapons are a black hole, swallowing up even greater proportions of the Ministry of Defence’s already ballooning budget.
“It is Britain’s replacement of its nuclear weapons system which is driving these huge nuclear weapons spending increases. This is contributing to a much more dangerous world where the threat of these world-ending weapons being used in war is the highest it has been since the Cold War.
“Far from keeping us safe, Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines are totally dependent on the US administration, which ties us even more closely to Trump’s reckless leadership that is dragging the world into more and more reckless wars that could go nuclear.
“With the government’s upcoming Defence Investment Plan expected to give at least £15 billion more to the military, it’s time to end the wasteful spending on war and nuclear weapons and redirect it into tackling the real security issues we face – from climate breakdown and the looming cost of living crisis.”
- This article was originally published by CND on 10 June 2026.
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