‘WE WILL make Britain a defence industrial superpower,’ Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared in the House of Commons yesterday, as she revealed that military spending is to be the main focus of the Labour government.
The spending review sets the day-to-day budgets of government departments over the next three years.
First of all, Reeves said that the budget for the NHS will go up by 3% per year in real terms, around an additional £29bn per year, the schools budget will go up by £4.5bn a year by 2029, free school meals will be extended to 500,000 children whose parents are receiving benefits.
She then announced £615m this year to partially fund a 4% pay rise for teachers, with schools told to fund a quarter of the rise through ‘improved productivity’, ie cuts.
However, the NEU and the other teachers unions reject this attack and are currently balloting members, demanding that their pay increase is fully funded.
Reeves announced that the ‘spending power’ of police forces will go up by an average 2.3% per year in real terms by 2029, while annual funding for the Border Security Command will increase £280m by 2029.
She said that defence spending will rise from 2.3% to 2.5% of overall economic output by 2027.
She said that her priorities are ‘national security, border security and economic security’.
She went on: ‘As the prime minister said earlier this month, a new era in threats that we face demands a new era for defence and security.
‘That’s why we took the decision to prioritise our defence spending by reducing overseas development aid.
‘So the defence spending will now rise to 2.6% of GDP by April 2027, including the contribution of our intelligence agencies.
‘That uplift provides funding to my right honourable friend the defence secretary with £11 billion increase in defence spending and a £600 million uplift for our security and intelligence agencies.’
She went on: ‘As we invest in our armed forces, our military technology and our supply chain, that also brings huge opportunities.
‘£4.5 million in investment in munitions… and over £6 billion to upgrade our nuclear submarine production.’
She then claimed: ‘We will make Britain a defence industrial superpower, with the jobs, the skills and the pride that comes with it.’
In order to pay for the rise in military spending, Reeves announced:
- Home Office spending is down 1.7% a year over the period;
- The Foreign Office loses 6.9% a year, mainly in aid spending (to pay for defence);
- Transport loses 5% a year over the next three years;
- Environment and Rural Affairs loses 2.7%;
- Business and Trade is reduced by 1.8%.
Labour MP Richard Burgeon condemned the review and demanded that the government ‘drop the cuts’ to disabilitiy support.
He said: ‘We should not be balancing the books on the backs of disabled people.’
