
Where has the money gone? Aid budget cut funds arms spending

Cash shortage isn’t just because of covid. – Biggest arms spending budget for 30 years
The UK now has the biggest defence/arms spending budget in Europe. On 19th of November 2020 the government announced the largest military spending budget for 30 years.
This amounted to a £16.5 billion increase above the manifesto commitment over four years.
On existing forecasts, this is an overall cash increase of £24.1 billion over four years compared to last year’s budget.
The Royal United Services Institute said that the “additional cash represents a real-term increase of between 10 percent and 15 percent in the defence budget.”
No threats of war
This cannot be because we are suddenly under greatly increased threat of invasion.
Lack of money for foreign aid, NHS, Education, Care of the Elderly etc
Surely it is not a coincidence that the foreign aid budget has been drastically cut. Not enough money to meet increased demands in the health service. But the media don’t talk about this huge increase in government arms spending at a time of critical, immediate needs.
David Roberts
30 July 2021