The UK Defence Secretary told trade unionists that military spending will ease economic hardship. The next day, he resigned demanding even more of it.
Details. The UK Secretary of Defence, John Healey, recently spoke at the GMB trade union congress as the special guest from the Labour Party. This was used to attempt to salvage the party after a disastrous performance in the local elections but mainly to highlight the increasing role that war preparations will play in revitalising the economy.
► The Defence Secretary acknowledged the low growth and falling living standards in the UK. But he disregards frustration with the Labour government by asserting that this administration has made a difference, and that everyone just “wants more, more quickly, but the most fair-minded people recognise and admit we can’t change everything overnight.”
► Referencing the Prime Minister’s claim that “hard power [...] is the currency of our age,” Healey argued that Labour’s defence spending would boost “national security,” strengthen British industry, and create jobs. New measures announced included support for British defence companies, domestic production and R&D, and investment in universities and colleges to attract young people into military-related work, with trade union participation.
► However, just a day later, Healey, along with armed forces minister Al Carns, resigned over what they claimed is a lack of “resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”
► The resignation – which even the far-right Reform UK supported – sparked criticism from other parties demanding resources be funnelled into militarisation "more, [and] more quickly," a standard of urgency Healey had reserved for the least "fair-minded" of workers.
Context. The number of concurrent global conflicts is currently the highest it has been since WWII. The UK has increased its military spending to its largest amount since the end of the Cold War, but every other imperialist state is doing the same – with workers bearing the brunt of this increased expenditure.
► In the UK, this is being accompanied by worsening living conditions. Workers are in poor health before they can retire, they struggle to afford essentials, and have even observed a growing number of modern slaves. Young workers specifically are increasingly struggling to find employment and are not getting into education. This has culminated in half of the UK’s young people saying they would never fight for the country in a war and a surge of 192,000 in trade union membership in 2025.
► The Prime Minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, is currently under pressure from all sectors of the government to resign. Numerous alternative Labour candidates have been proposed; early on, even John Healey himself was considered.
► The GMB and other trade unions, under reformist and social-chauvinist leadership, have long supported increased defence spending in line with capitalist interests, working with Labour's strategy of defending British capital whilst pretending to be pro-worker.