Last week marked the third anniversary of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. I was reflecting on my conversations with Ukrainian women and children displaced here to West Cumbria to escape the war. Many have sons and husbands serving on the front line. They don’t know if they’ll ever see their loved ones again.
Nigel Farage and Putin’s cheerleaders in Reform UK parrot Kremlin talking points blaming the West for ‘provoking’ this war. But the blame lies squarely with Vladimir Putin. Reform UK claim to be patriots but don’t stand with our country in its defence of the British values of freedom and democracy that many west Cumbrians fought and died for during WWII.
Resolving the Ukraine crisis through protecting its sovereignty is imperative for European security. The UK has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine and I was very proud to see Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcome President Zelenskyy to Downing Street as a friend and ally this weekend.
But Russian aggression in Ukraine is just one facet of the threat we are dealing with. We are facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our country and our continent. Global instability, increasing threats from malign actors, climate change and rapid technological disruption have all contributed to a rapidly deteriorating security landscape.
Labour Governments have always stood up to keep Britain safe. Just as our predecessors stood with Churchill through the Second World War, created NATO and won the peace, we will provide the response this moment demands.
As a leading European power, the UK must step up to safeguard continental security on an enduring basis. That is why we are delivering our manifesto commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by April 2027 – with an ambition to reach 3% in the next parliament as economic and fiscal conditions allow.
This will deliver the biggest sustained boost to defence spending since the Cold War, safeguarding our collective security and funding the capabilities, technology and industrial capacity needed to keep the UK and our allies safe.
We have to pay for that increase and we’ve been crystal clear that we won’t hike taxes on working people or return to austerity. That left us with the difficult but necessary decision to fund it by temporarily reducing overseas aid from 0.5% to 0.3% of Gross National Income (GNI). This is a difficult choice but it is one that reflects the evolving nature of the threat and the need to shift our focus from soft to hard capability, whilst upholding fiscal discipline.
We will meet the growing threats of this new era by making Britain secure at home, and strong abroad.
Josh MacAlister MP 