“War-readiness is prioritised whilst people continue to face insecure housing, high energy costs and overstretched health and care services.”
By the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
The Chancellor, John Healey, has made clear that the priority of Burnham’s government remains one of even greater military spending increases to reach NATO’s military spending target – at the expense of critical spending for tackling the cost-of-living crisis.
Alongside another £10 billion in loans for military funding for Ukraine, Healey reaffirmed Britain’s commitment to meet NATO’s 3.5% GDP defence spending target by 2035 – estimated to be an additional £36 billion per year – with a 3% target for 2030.
These increases will be paid for through a wide array of funding options, including more public sector cuts: Healey says he is ‘looking hard’ at further cuts to public spending – as he has done to fund the Defence Investment Plan.
He also announced up to £5 billion in investment and lending over the next four years through the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank for ‘defence, dual-use technology and sovereign capability’.
On top of this, further funding will come from private investment and ‘international allies’. Britain is commencing treaty negotiations on the Multilateral Defence Mechanism (MDM) with Finland, Poland and the Netherlands ‘to enable joint procurement’, and ‘help underpin increases in defence capability and value from increased spending for defence investment and procurement across NATO allies’.
Healey also announced that the government will expand the ‘defence industrial base’ through private finance, including Public–Private Partnerships (PPP).
A new defence finance task force will be launched ahead of the national spending review next Autumn.
Meanwhile, public services like health, already under pressure after years of cuts and underinvestment, were an ‘afterthought’ in Healey’s budget, according to the Royal College of Nurses. Unison’s General Secretary, Andrea Egan, argues that the budget ‘falls short’ and that to ‘improve ordinary people’s everyday lives in a way that lasts, the government needs to move beyond small fixes and deal with the fundamental causes of the miseries so many face.’
The government is continuing with the failed priorities of the Starmer government, in which war-readiness is prioritised whilst people continue to face insecure housing, high energy costs and overstretched health and care services.
CND’s General Secretary, Sophie Bolt:
“Yet again, we are seeing a British chancellor pull out all the stops to increase military spending, whilst failing to tackle the life-and-death human security issues the population faces from climate breakdown and a health service at breaking point. This government is whipping up war fever to justify these wrong priorities, and to try and coerce the population into accepting war is inevitable, alongside worse living standards and even greater insecurity.
But a strong majority of the population oppose these wrong economic choices – and want the government to prioritise tackling the cost-of-living crisis over increased military spending. The protests taking place across Europe will be coming to Britain unless Burnham changes direction.”
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- This article was first posted on the CND website on 29 October 2026.
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