This year’s Global Days of Action on Military Spending take place between between 10 April and 9 May. Northern Friends Peace Board has been a member of the UK network supporting this campaign (GCOMS) for a number of years and in March our members welcomed GCOMS UK Coordinator Russell Whiting to our meeting, in a week that had seen the government ramp up its commitment to increase military spending. Of particular concern then and now is that this comes at the expense of funding for international aid and development, and social welfare.
NFPB calls on the government to abandon its plans to reduce foreign aid and social welfare at a time when more not less expenditure is needed. We urge the government to adopt a wider concept of security which considers also the needs of people here and abroad rather than narrowly assuming that security can be attained through ever more weapons and military power. This move will, we fear, undermine Britain’s position in the world community, national security and international peace.
The government’s announcement to cut foreign aid occurs at a time when the United States has effectively ended its own international assistance through USAID and through its contributions to the United Nations. These decisions deprive many people in the Global South of vital support in terms food aid, medical supplies and development projects. These cuts will also diminish the life chances of many and will push people to migrate to Europe and the United Kingdom. At the same time, we know that these cuts will lead governments of the Global South to regard the United Kingdom as an unreliable partner and will be less willing to cooperate with Britain on issues of international security and the climate emergency.
While we remain unconvinced that increased military expenditure will actually increase national security, the proposed cuts to foreign aid and social welfare budget will diminish the sense of security of ordinary people.
—
Other recent news and comment on UK military spending
- Quakers say Spring Statement puts militarism before people
- CAAT – ‘Utterly abhorrent’: Labour is punishing sick and disabled people while rewarding arms dealers complicit in genocide
- Increasing military spending is ‘a hard pill to swallow and will do the patient no good’ – Fellowship of Reconciliation
- First USAID closes, then UK cuts aid: what a Western retreat from foreign aid could mean
- Peaceful Alternatives to the Military-Industrial Complex: Arms conversion beyond the Lucas Plan