By Georgia Wilkinson
With war raging in mainland Europe, the situation in the Middle East spiralling into endemic conflict and central Africa in a state of violent tumult, there are few political conversations in 2025 without military spending at the top of the agenda. World military expenditure reached $2.72 trillion in 2024, an increase of 9.4% in real terms from 2023 and the steepest year-on-year rise since the end of the Cold War.
As the neoliberal era of cross-border collaboration between capitalist states comes to an end, a new doctrine has risen from the ashes which focuses on nationalism and militarism. The international situation has been reflected in UK politics with the Labour government charging towards greater military investment – a tried and tested way of diverting attention from problems at home as well as a desire to strengthen strategic relationships.
At Trump’s prompting, NATO is now demanding 5% of GDP on ‘defence’ spending by all member states. The Prime Minister has agreed to increase defence spending from its current 2.3% of GDP to 5% by 2035, although 1.5% of that figure is for ‘wider resilience’ such as infrastructure, energy, security and cyber defence. This will equate to about £60bn annually.
This is against the backdrop of a rising cost of living as inflation settles at over 3%. Rising spending on warfare has meant increased taxation on working people, abandonment of climate commitments and sweeping reform to cuts to disability benefits. Some welfare claimants who will be made ineligible for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) face losing £886 per month while just one F-35B fighter jet costs the UK taxpayer £90 million!
What’s behind the drive toward militarism?
We are not in active conflict, nor are we liable to attack – despite the fear mongering from governments across Europe. Russia’s imperialist offensive in Ukraine might be slowly gaining ground, but only in the context of a brutal war of drawn out attrition, leading to multiple waves of conscription to refresh troops and resources. It is an unlikely strategic move for Russian forces to travel 1,600 miles to assault the UK.
Ultimately, Starmer’s banging on the drum of war comes from the needs of the British ruling class to shore up their imperialist bloc with the US and Europe in a world of increasing conflict. The British capitalists are also looking to defend their assets – from shipping lanes to crude oil. These are the interests that Starmer is really looking out for.
Rather than contributing to ‘defending’ ordinary people in Britain, this pouring of resources into defence only serves to drive the arms race and push us all further towards military conflict as different imperialist powers fight for resources and influence at the expense of the populations on all sides of these conflicts.
We call for the nationalisation of arms factories, turning the monumental levels of spending and resources in the arms industry toward socially beneficial projects and initiatives. We call for welfare not warfare, investing in working people to tackle social inequality at home and not pursuing blood-stained profits abroad. We send international solidarity to all those in war zones and fight for a socialist solution to growing world conflict.
