Arriving at the NATO Summit in the Hague on Tuesday, June 24th, Keir
Starmer announced that he was set to up the amount spent by the UKgovernment on defence to 5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
over the next ten years. ---- He did not explain where the money for
this would come from. It is calculated that such an increase would add
around £30 billion to the 2027 target of £75 billion on defence
spending. Later he announced that 12 F-35A fighter jets, capable of
carrying tactical nuclear weapons, would be bought at a cost of just
under a billion pounds.
This announcement highlights the choices he has made, to prioritise
warfare over welfare. He plans £5 billion of welfare cuts which he and
his cabinet is planning on pushing through Parliament. In addition, he
has slashed overseas development aid and capital investment.
This stance is highly unpopular, both with Labour's voting base and with
its MPs. It is estimated that as many as 170 Labour MPs are opposed to
these "reforms" and are prepared to vote against the attack on Universal
Credit and Personal Independence Payments (Pip). Some are rebelling out
of principle, but a cynic would note that 80 of these MPs are in seats
with a small majority, and fear losing their seats at a forthcoming
election. A hundred MPs have signed an amendment to the welfare vote.
This would stymie the Starmer cabinet's plans.
Such an outcome would be a serious defeat for Starmer, especially when
the government has been in power less than a year. Hence the frantic
attempt to whip in Labour MPS to tow the line. Starmer has already made
a U-turn on winter fuel payments for pensioners.
Last July Starmer headed off a revolt when 7 Labour MPs voted against
cutting the two-child benefit cap. As a result, they were all suspended
for six months, with only four of them readmitted to the Party in
February 2025. But this revolt is of a much larger magnitude. Starmer
and his associates feel that they cannot give way on this issue, in
order to save Starmer's bacon and to find the savings to stick to the
fiscal plans of Rachel Reeves.
Labour has, once again, proved itself to be an enemy of the working
class, through its series of austerity measures, its attacks on winter
fuel payments, its continuing support for the two-child benefit cap, its
refusal to pay WASPI women, its attacks on the disabled. Meanwhile it
refuses to act over the sewage dumping by the privatised water
companies, fails to prosecute over those criminally responsible for the
Grenfell fire and the Post Office scandal.
The Starmer government has hitched its wagon to the arms race and to
support for NATO. It tries to fan the flames of war, whilst designating
Palestine Action as terrorists, prosecuting Kneecap, and handing out
harsh prison sentences to an increasing number of environmental activists.
It remains to be seen whether Labour MPs are capable of mounting a
challenge to the Starmer cabinet, and we're not holding our breath. What
is needed is a massive turnout on the streets to show our determination
to oppose this vicious authoritarian and anti-working class government,
and to put the frighteners on these spineless MPs.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2025/06/26/starmer-plumps-for-warfare-state-not-welfare-state/
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