It has tethered itself so desperately to Trump that Starmer has taken the lead among NATO leaders in pushing for huge military spending hikes. The new Labour government’s strategic defence review was published early in its term in order to justify gross increases in military spending to 2.5% of GDP over the next few years, and to 3% in the next parliament. Stop the War’s new pamphlet, Welfare not Warfare: the real cost of defence spending outlines the political choices Starmer’s Labour government is making. Now the government has announced an astonishing initial increase in military spending to 4.1% of GDP by 2027, followed by a further increase to meet Trump’s desired 5% by 2035. Simultaneously the government confirmed swathing cuts to welfare payments and almost all government departments (except of course the MoD).