No to Austerity - No to War

Newsletter – 22/05/25

 No to Austerity – No to War 

Welfare not Warfare

One in three children in the UK live in poverty but there is always money for war. As Diane Abbott said last week we have gone back to the era of cuts and scapegoating. But broken Britain is not the fault of migrants, and more war will not help it mend.

On 7 June the People’s Assembly is holding its No More Austerity march and rally. Trade unions and NHS workers, environmentalists and anti-war activists will be on the streets demanding an end to austerity. Our demand is Welfare not Warfare.

Saturday’s fantastic Palestine demonstration shows how important mass mobilisation is. Half a million joined us to campaign against Israel’s brutal war in Palestine and UK arms sales to Israel, and while we must keep up the pressure over Palestine the anti-war movement needs to make the wider case against the growth of militarism.

Britain spends over £54 billion a year on defence, and as a percentage of GDP spends more than most of our European allies. Yet Starmer wants to raise this to 2.5% of GDP equating to £70 billion per year by 2027/8. 

The government is unpopular, Starmer and Reeves have displayed their true colours by doubling down on their austerity agenda. But the fightback is working and this week the government was forced to U-turn on the cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel allowance.

We must make the 7 June demonstration as big as possible. Do what you can to build our Welfare not Warfare bloc  - download our petition, hold a leafleting session or a street stall and submit our model motion on military spending to your trade union branch. Leaflets for the demo are available from the office.

Join the anti-war bloc on 7 June, 12 noon, Portland Place, London.