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Badenoch steps up push to cut welfare and raise UK defence spending
The Conservative leader accused the government of avoiding hard choices and warned about Britain’s military readiness amid the Russian threat. She also renewed her call to trim welfare spending to fund defence.
Kemi Badenoch renewed her call for higher UK defence spending and tied it to cuts in the welfare budget. As reported by The Guardian, the Conservative leader accused the government of putting off difficult decisions at a time of growing concern about security in Europe.
In remarks cited by that outlet from an interview with The Telegraph, Badenoch said the government must properly fund defence and argued that hard choices can no longer be delayed while the threat from Russia grows.
The argument over welfare versus military spending has intensified in recent days after Andy Burnham said on 9 September, during prime minister’s questions, that national security should not come at the expense of social security. Badenoch said that message was dangerous and argued it would be heard in Moscow as well.
According to The Guardian, the UK has pledged to devote 3.5% of national income to defence by 2035, in line with a commitment made by Nato members. At the same time, pressure is mounting on the government to explain before next month’s budget how further increases will be funded.
Warnings about the condition of Britain’s armed forces have also come from former military chiefs. Adm Lord West, a former security minister under Gordon Brown, said the military was in a troubled state. He also said that in several respects the country is already in a grey-zone conflict, including cyber-attacks, drones and threats to undersea cables.
Lord Dannatt, a former chief of the general staff, said Andy Burnham and, he added, John Healey were handling national security recklessly.
The Conservatives have proposed capping housing benefit to raise £4bn for defence. The party rejected claims that the measure would make people homeless, while suggesting that some recipients would have to move to cheaper places.
The Guardian also noted that the Conservatives will hold their annual conference in Birmingham in two weeks.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
