Time to break from failed foreign policy
Responding to Keir Starmer's military spending announcement, Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said:
“The Prime Minister was right about one thing in his speech: we are living in an unprecedented time of threats to people across Scotland and the world.
“Peace is not only threatened by aggressive and war-mongering regimes like Russia, Israel and the US, but also by food and water insecurity caused by mega corporations hoarding natural resources and the climate crisis that is destroying communities and habitats through wildfires, floods and droughts.
“For far too long the UK has stuck to a foreign policy that has exacerbated these threats. Both Labour and the Tories before them have cosied up to Donald Trump and armed Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
“Throwing even greater sums of money into the pockets of arms company bosses isn’t going to make the UK any more secure, and certainly not if we continue with a foreign policy that has done so much damage.
“We could instead start by relocating funds from the useless and abhorrent Trident nuclear program. We certainly shouldn’t be attacking vital international development funding as Labour has already done or axing public services.
“We’ve seen just how important European support and solidarity with Ukraine has been in stopping the aggression of Vladimir Putin, and that must continue.
“However, if the UK is to be a credible voice for peace, then there must urgently be an end to the arming of war criminal regimes such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.”