“He needs to address the real national security threats we face – and have the correct strategy to make us more secure, not less.”
By Sophie Bolt
This week CND launched it’s new ‘People Not Nukes’ campaign at the TUC, as trade union delegates representing millions of public sector workers came together to vote for building real security – not war. Delegates voted in favour of University and College Union’s motion, urging the advancement of a ‘trade union vision of security based decent work, quality public services, equality, climate action, democracy on peace.’
This is a really important victory – strengthening the TUC’s ‘wages not weapons’ campaign as well as reframing what security really means – and how we get it.
Andy Burnham has said national security can’t come at the expense of social security. That is correct. But he needs to address the real national security threats we face – and have the correct strategy to make us more secure, not less.
The huge levels of public funds the government is funnelling into a war drive and nuclear expansion are only making the world more dangerous and insecure.
The government plans to spend £300 billion on getting Britain ‘war-ready’ over the next four years. £64 billion of this will go on nuclear weapons – double any other area of military procurement. In fact, Britain is now the third biggest spender on nuclear weapons in the world, surpassing Russia.
This money is being spent on Britain replacing its four nuclear-armed submarines – which will cost at least £240 billion over their 30-year lifespan. The government is also buying at least 12 nuclear-capable F-35A fighter jets from the US at a cost of about £2.5 billion. These jets can launch a new generation of US nuclear bombs now stationed here in Britain.
The government’s actions are worsening global tensions, increasing the risk of a nuclear confrontation and dragging Britain even deeper into wars like Ukraine and Iran – making us all targets.
The impact of these wars is also driving a cost-of-living crisis, damaging our economies and making us poorer. And they are pumping huge levels of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, accelerating the climate crisis.
Burnham is continuing to present the ‘war-readiness’ agenda as a way to boost the economy and jobs. Yet the government’s own data shows that military spending is one of the least jobs rich areas of the economy, falling far behind transport, health, education and social care. And the extra £15 billion to fund the Defence Investment Plan will be paid for by nearly £7 billion worth of cuts to vital public services – with another £4.7 billion cuts to follow.
This means jobs-rich public services will be cut to fund the jobs-poor military sector – resulting in job losses between 10,000 to 20,000 jobs, according to research by the Transition Security Project.
Meanwhile, the scale of the crisis caused by decades-long underfunding of our public services and the failure to cut carbon emissions is already costings tens of thousands of lives in Britain every year. In 2025, 15,000 people died unnecessarily due to the severe delays to our A&E services. In just two months in 2026 at least 3,000 died because of the extreme heat. Over 14 million people are living below the poverty line, and about 6.8 million of them are in very deep poverty – the highest in three decades.
Cuts to public services to fund war and nukes are only going to worsen these crises.
So, on all fronts, the war drive is only going to accelerate all the real security threats we face.
Never has it been more urgent for the government to fundamentally shift its direction away from war and nuclear weapons, and adopt a defence strategy that prioritises real human security. That means focusing on diplomacy, conflict prevention, climate resilience and investing in our public services.
Halting the replacement of Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines would not only make the world safer, it would release £240 billion over thirty years into our economy. In our ‘People not Nukes’ briefing, we show how redirecting this money can help the government prioritise human security, kick-start the economy and fundamentally transform our society for the better.
These are just a few examples.
Free school meals are a critical way to tackle child hunger.
£240 billion could fund free school meals for every child in Britain for 46 years.
It could boost the number of nurses in the NHS by an incredible 220,000.
Or, £240 billion could fund the construction of 140,000 affordable homes for thirty years – wiping out the social housing waiting list in less than seven years.
It could significantly lift the debt burden on students by paying the cost of tuition fees for eight million students.
Or it could fund the retrofitting of all homes in Britain within 11 years, significantly reducing carbon emissions and energy bills – helping Britain reach its Net Zero target.
We need a government that invests in saving lives, not destroying them. The government’s autumn statement on 28 October should be an opportunity to start reprioritising public spending to tackle these real human security threats we face – and make us all safer.
We have to increase the pressure, and that means strengthening unity across our movements – trade unions, environmental campaigns, anti-poverty groups, students and the peace and anti-war movements – all working together to secure the peaceful, sustainable and just future we all so desperately need.
- 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.
- You can download CND’s ‘People Not Nukes’ report here.
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