If we had a penny for every time arms hysteria has productively solved political problems, our arms budget would be looking pretty sore.
In April 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the UK will increase its defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, a pledge that was backed by Keir Starmer at the beginning of his own term. In an age marked by increasing international tensions, the government’s militaristic streak in the name of national security is noble and understandable, yet ultimately useless.
History has provided plenty of instances in which states have committed to extraordinary military endeavours during politically charged times to show that no number of arms can buy security. Whether it was the USSR allocating 20 per cent of its annual budget for defence during the Cold War, the US spending $825 billion on Afghanistan, or Israel dedicating 12 per cent of government spending to defence, one can conclude that their security concerns would not have been fixed if only they had spent a couple more million.
This same lesson applies now to the UK, which already stands, in 2022, as the 6th country worldwide in terms of arms spending. In fact, the UK spent 2.3 per cent of its GDP on defence expenditure in 2024; 0.3 per cent above its NATO commitment. It is therefore worth asking what percentage of GDP is believed to ever satiate security concerns. Will an increase from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent make a difference? Other than reinforcing hostility by signalling aggression or creating a precedent for another spiralling arms race.
What does promise noticeable improvements is addressing the current welfare state crisis. NHS satisfaction has reached an all-time low, with 83 per cent of the British Social Attitudes survey’s respondents claiming that the NHS is severely underfunded. Moreover, 50 per cent of participants claimed that they want the UK government to increase its healthcare financing. This is accompanied by the cost of living crisis, with the UK’s inflation being the highest out of any G7 country and a ten-fold increase in energy prices between 2021 and 2024. All these very present problems stand in stark contrast when compared to the “benefits” raising arms spending would bring.
It is precisely because of the heightened international tensions that the UK government must move away from aggressive policies to prioritise effective leadership, both domestically and abroad. The UK’s defence sector is far from vulnerable, as shown by current financial reports revealing the military edge the UK holds at a global level.
Let’s stop inflating the price of national security and focus on actual inflation.
“U.S. Soldier earns place at British Military Academy” by 7th Army Training Command is licensed under CC BY 2.0.