Pax Christi concerned by huge military spend in UK Budget

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson, Chief Executive of Pax Christi UK has expressed concern at the huge amount of money allocated to military spending in the UK government's recent Budget.

He told ICN: "For anyone hoping that the new Labour Government might choose different priorities when it comes to military spending, the recent Budget was a deep disappointment.

"Whilst all the indications had been that Labour would continue the approach taking by previous Governments and increase military spending year on year, there was always hope that a Government famously facing a budgetary black hole of billions of pounds, would see the colossal waste of resources that military spending represents and readjust its spending plans to cover the real priority issues that impact our security.

"In the face of a climate crisis that is threatening us all, military spending of 5.5 times the budget of the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero makes no sense.

"For military spending to be 4.3 times the overseas aid budget is immoral not least when the choice could have been taken to restore the commitment to aid spending of a minimum of 0.7% of GDP.

"As Pope Francis said on World Food Day last month 'Let us reject the line of reasoning that embraces weapons, and instead transform massive military expenditures into investments to combat hunger and the lack of healthcare and education'."

LINKS

The figures are taking from the Global Campaign On Military Spending UK analysis of the budget:

https://demilitarize.org.uk/military-budget-continues-to-grow-faster-than-peacebuilding-and-overseas-aid-spending/

Pax Christi UK: https://paxchristi.org.uk/