Wes Streeting warns activists NOT to oppose boost to defence spending

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By MARK NICOL, DEFENCE EDITOR and SOPHIE CHURCH - POLITICAL REPORTER

Published: 00:10 BST, 29 September 2026 | Updated: 00:12 BST, 29 September 2026

Wes Streeting has warned Labour's hard-Left fringe against any attempt to oppose plans to increase defence spending.

A drive to block investment in the Armed Forces was gathering momentum yesterday, led by union leaders who expect the Government to fund a public-sector pay rise instead.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), called for a 'mass movement' in Britain to favour the factory floor over the battlefield. 

The UCU showcased a 'Wages not Weapons' campaign at last month's Trades Union Congress conference.

This is despite the UK lagging behind many of its allies, who have hiked defence spending since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

While Poland has reached more than 4 per cent of GDP and Germany has vowed to boost its commitment to 3.5 per cent by 2030, Britain remains on 2.7 per cent. T

he UK must reach 3.5 per cent by 2035 to meet NATO's deadline and the Government is expected to soon set out a pathway to reach this amount.

In an effort to reinforce this plan, the Defence Secretary told Labour Party conference yesterday: 'We need to step up. We need to spend more. 

Wes Streeting has warned activists not to oppose a boost in defence spending as a drive to block investment in the Armed Forces was gathering momentum at the Labour Party conference yesterday

'And friends, we are – with the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War.'

Mr Streeting added: 'I have to say directly to some of our critics on the Left, you are not defending public services by attacking investment in our national defences.

'As a Labour defence secretary called Mr Healey [Denis Healey] once said, 'Once we cut defence expenditure to the extent where our security is imperilled, we have no houses, we have no hospitals, we have no schools. We have a heap of cinders'.'

That Mr Healey was speaking in 1969. The current Chancellor, John Healey, resigned as Defence Secretary earlier this year over

Sir Keir Starmer's poor record on Armed Forces investment.

But Ms Grady said: 'We need to see the material lives of people fundamentally changed, and we need decent wages.'

She claimed the 'dial has shifted' in favour of welfare over defence, adding: 'We're even having conversations now amongst ministers who even four or five months ago were saying the only way was extra defence expenditure.'

Elsewhere, former Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen even said the British would be 'proud' to abolish the Armed Forces, citing the example of Costa Rica in 1949.

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