Warfare v Welfare
Defence spending How can the U.K. afford to double its spending on "defence (1)" - fighter jets, military, and nuclear weapons - as America retreats from its role in world affairs (2)? And who could have forseen a Labour Government facing policy-driven opposition from its own MPs over plans to cut the "balooning" welfare spending bill (3)? In signing the Hague Declaration earlier in the same week, the Prime Minister said that the UK would buy American-made fighter jets. This announcement signals the RAF's return to nuclear deterrence for the first time this century. In so doing, it also raises pressing questions for Government at a time of further pressures on the public purse. Was any such committment about the projected degree of upscaling armaments articulated by the landslide-winning Labour Party in July 2024's General Election to the Westminster Parliament ? Ambiguous references to Government's first committment of any Party being the security ...