London rearms to "secure peace through strength"

LondonMore submarines, more ammunition, more nuclear warheads, and more defense technology. In short, an old doctrine: "If you want peace, prepare for war." states with advanced military forces and we must be prepared."

Starmer spoke from a Glasgow shipyard where a frigate is being built for the Royal Navy hours before presenting to the Commons the new general outlines of British military policy for the transformation of the "in a decade than a decade." are "ready for combat" and adapted to an "increasingly unstable" global context. anti-missile and long-range offensive capacity. The plan includes 62 recommendations, all of which were accepted by the government. the opposition, which is calling for more clarity and a firm commitment.

The new strategy, Starmer stressed, will be fully integrated into the NATO framework and will have significant economic and employment benefits: "We will build at least six new munitions factories in the United Kingdom, which will generate more than 10,000 euros. to strengthen European deterrence and we will create around 800 additional jobs. We will defend our homeland by investing in air and missile defense systems to better protect these islands. We will also maintain up to 14,000 jobs in the shipbuilding sector. "Every branch of the armed forces must be fully coordinated to create an army ten times more lethal by 2035," he added. "BK_SLT_LNA~ "Because the world today has changed," Starmer recalled. "from the Cold War."

London thus joins the arms race driven by the European Union due to the war in Ukraine and the threat from the Kremlin, but also responds to Donald Trump's demands Increase NATO members' financial contributions to the Alliance's overall budget. NATO will hold its annual summit in The Hague from June 24 to 26, and Washington's latest proposal, which will be voted on then, is to reach 5% of GDP by 2032.

While Secretary General Mark Rutte has expressed satisfaction with the statements on this matter, the Lithuanian Defense Minister, for example, stated that the British commitment of 2.5% is "old news." In statements to the BBC, he said that the minimum should be 3.5%.

However, three decades of underinvestment in defense, according to experts, cannot be reversed overnight. This is even less so in a context of weak economic growth and a growing social cost—especially pensions and healthcare—due to an aging population. Paul Johnson, director of the prestigious Institute for Fiscal Studies, has warned that the Labour government will have to impose "significant tax increases" to meet the 3% military spending target. "But, of course, this is something no prime minister would ever endorse," he told Times Radio.