Hunt's high 'defence' budget triggers protests over twisted priorities
Hunt's high 'defence' budget triggers protests over twisted priorities
Pacifists have slammed Jeremy Hunt's plan to maintain existing levels of military spending while reducing help with energy costs.
Responding to today's Autumn Statement, the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) said that Hunt was in effect offering a handout to arms dealers when millions of people are struggling to heat their homes and waiting for medical appointments.
The UK already has the fourth highest military spending in the world, according to several academic studies.
PPU members announced that they will hold protests on Saturday 3 December, calling for military budgets to be cut so that money can be diverted to areas such as healthcare and energy costs. More details will be announced soon.
The PPU is working with other peace, human rights and anti-poverty campaigners on the issue.
Hunt’s statement comes only two days after it was revealed that the world’s richest countries are spending 30 times as much on war and armed force as on climate finance.
Symon Hill, Campaigns Manager of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), said:
"While millions of British people are shivering because they can’t afford the heating, arms dealers and generals will today be toasting the Chancellor. Military spending is literally making us less safe: by stirring up military tension and diverting resources from tackling the very real threats of poverty, pandemics and climate chaos.
"The tragic killing of two Polish civilians this week, apparently by a Ukrainian missile, is a stark reminder that sending more and more weapons to Ukraine is not helping to end the death and destruction that has followed Putin’s aggression. Only real and difficult peace talks can end this war. Ministers say that military spending protects democracy but in reality they are sending British troops to provide training to the Saudi forces that are bombing Yemenis in much the same way that Putin’s forces are attacking Ukrainians.”