‘Britain is in danger…our moat has vanished – so I had to speak out. | UK | News

Two former Labor defense ministers have publicly broken ranks with the government, calling on ministers to cut welfare spending and divert money to Britain’s armed forces amid growing alarm over national security.

Former NATO chief Lord Robertson, who wrote last year’s strategic defense review, issued a stark warning to an audience in Salisbury that the country’s security was seriously compromised by the Government’s reluctance to increase defense spending.

He was reported to have said: “The cold truth of today’s dangerous world is that we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget.”

Robertson turned his fire on Chancellor Rachel Reeves, accusing her of starving the Armed Forces of funding while the welfare bill continues to rise unchecked.

“The UK’s welfare budget is five times what we currently spend on defence. So I ask, are we sure that continuing an increasingly unsustainable welfare bill while jeopardizing people’s future safety and security is the right priority?”

‘Defining the moment’

Labor Lord Hutton, who held both the defense and work and pensions briefs under the last Labor government, lined up behind Robertson and pressured Sir Keir Starmer to seize the moment.

Speaking to Times Radio, he said the Prime Minister has “a very, very short period of time to start putting this right and sending out the signals to Vladimir Putin” that Britain is serious about defending itself.

He argued that the government “needs to get the soaring welfare budget under control” and warned that after nearly two years in office “there is no real sign that it has any agenda to fix the very rapid increase in welfare payments”.

Triple lock in the line of fire

Former Labor deputy leader Harriet Harman went further, raising the idea of ​​means-testing the pension triple lock as a way of diverting money towards defence.

“If you’re strapped for money and need to put some money into defence, this is one of the places to look,” he told the BBC.

Treasury Department is squeezing

The chorus of concern grew louder as it emerged that the Treasury had instructed the Ministry of Defense to identify £3.5bn in savings; This figure fits the bill almost exactly for the Chancellor’s move to remove the two-child benefit cap.

According to the Dailty Mail, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the Government’s hesitation had become an “existential” threat to the country, insisting: “We must spend more on defence.”

He reportedly said: “The government does not have a defense investment plan. It has a welfare plan that will last until 2031, but no defense plan.”

Ms Badenoch renewed her offer to cooperate with Labor on welfare cuts to fund the military, noting that welfare’s share of public spending had risen from one seventh of a pound to one in every third.

“A lot of this money has basically been diverted to defense,” he said.

‘Treasury door was knocked on’

Tory defense spokesman James Cartlidge described it as “extraordinary” that the Treasury had asked the Ministry of Defense to absorb cuts to pay for the removal of the two-child limit; It was a move aimed at providing thousands of pounds in additional payments to some of the country’s largest unemployed households.

“A former Labor defense minister says benefits are being cut to fund defence,” he told the Daily Mail. “We need the current Minister of Defense to knock on the door of the Treasury and say ‘enough is enough’.

“Let’s make some tough decisions and cut benefits to fund defense.”

The plan is still on the Prime Minister’s desk

John Healey had committed to publishing a ten-year Defense Investment Plan by last autumn, but the target was missed as ministries clashed behind closed doors over who would foot the bill. Downing Street on Tuesday was unable to say when the document, which has been in the Prime Minister’s possession for months, would finally be published.

The government is grappling with a £28bn shortfall in defense funding projected for the next four years. Ms Reeves has ruled out borrowing to cover it and has made clear she has no intention of revisiting defense allocations before a comprehensive spending review penciled in for the summer of 2027.

‘Our trenches have disappeared’

Asked why Starmer’s government appeared reluctant to commit to the defense of Britain, Lord Robertson noted that Britain, as an island nation, had never faced invasion, suggesting that an ingrained sense of geographical security might explain why politicians were slow to act.

“In a world of hypersonic missiles, long-range drones, intercontinental missiles, suddenly the moat around our coasts and our distance from trouble have completely disappeared,” he said.

He acknowledged he was “extremely angry” at Healey’s public criticism but said he had no regrets.

“My country is in danger, so I felt I had to speak up.”