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A rearmament drive paid for by slashing the UK’s foreign aid budget shows the “completely wrong priorities” of the Labour government, Diane Abbott has said as she slammed Sir Keir’s policy.
The veteran Labour MP said it demonstrated there was a “chasm” between the decision and the values of her party, arguing the move would not add to the UK’s security and was “morally indefensible”.
She also accused “fading world powers” of believing that a failure to defeat Russia in Ukraine would undermine their standing in the world, leading to “extraordinary and panicked measures”.
On Tuesday, Sir Keir bowed to pressure from Donald Trump to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by cutting the foreign aid budget.
Ms Abbot hit back at the plan. In an article for The Independent she wrote: “Cutting the aid budget to pay for a rearmament drive is the clearest expression of the completely wrong priorities of this Labour government. The distance between this policy and what might be called Labour values is a chasm. It will not add to our security and is morally indefensible.”
The announcement came just 24 hours before the prime minister flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with the US president since last month’s inauguration.
The White House has been piling pressure on European allies in Nato to radically increase defence spending as Mr Trump appears to be on the verge of turning his back on Ukraine.
Ms Abbott said Europe was now “in a frenzy of warmongering and agitation for higher military spending” and said we should “lay to rest the idea that Russia poses a military threat to Western Europe”.
“This is a full rearmament agenda which has little to do with Ukraine itself. Polls show Ukrainians want peace negotiations. Furthermore, without a US commitment to participating in and funding the war, the Nato forces cannot win.”
She writes: “The Starmer government is deeply unpopular following the cuts already made. There may be more to come in the Spring Statement. Cutting aid to some of the world’s poorest in order to increase military spending is an anathema to many in the Labour party and beyond. Many of us will make the argument that, if money can be found for the Ukrainian war, then why not pensioners, or schoolchildren, poorer families, or the NHS?
“We should oppose the increase in military spending. It is an unnecessary distraction from the real crises facing Europe, especially Britain. We simply cannot afford further cuts in real pay, and in public services and public investment.”
Sir Keir has also been warned that Russia and China will be the beneficiaries of his plans to slash the foreign aid budget.
Former deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell, also writing for The Independent, issued a stark message to the prime minister, saying the move would actually aid Russia, three years after its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
