Friday, April 17, 2026
Labour civil war?
The paper adds that the health secretary said that “the money has to come from somewhere” in a move interpreted as backing Labour’s former defence secretary and ex-Nato secretary general George Robertson earlier this week, but has since issued a clarification denying that he specifically wants to slash benefits to fund defence.:
However, they say that there is growing alarm at Sir Keir Starmer’s failure to decide on the UK’s defence spending, with the Defence Improvement Plan (DIP) still stuck on his desk after months of rowing between the Treasury and Ministry of Defence (MoD):
In a stark warning, Lord Jock Stirrup, the former chief of the defence staff, told The Independent the UK needs a decade to rebuild its defence capabilities and urged Sir Keir to show leadership and start the reinvestment now, in the latest intervention over the parlous state of the defence estate.
Mr Streeting, who is understood to still be hoping to replace Sir Keir as Labour leader and prime minister, is the first cabinet minister to appear to argue in favour of cutting the £334bn benefits budget to fund Britain’s military.
In so doing he risks reopening the dividing lines which saw Sir Keir forced into a humiliating U-turn by furious Labour backbenchers last year when he tried to trim the burgeoning welfare budget.
Mr Streeting has previously made it clear that money cannot be diverted from health spending following Labour’s manifesto commitment to increase it.
But asked if he would support switching funds from the welfare budget, Mr Streeting told LBC: “Well, yeah. We want to reduce the welfare budget.”
Mr Streeting was asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari about claims of “corrosive complacency” made against Sir Keir by Lord Robertson and other military leaders last week.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the lead of Labour’s strategic defence review, warned the military could not be properly funded with an “ever-expanding welfare budget”.
Mr Streeting said: “Yes, and we do need to put money into defence.
“We have been putting more money into defence as a government, but we will need more. That is the reality of the challenge of the world that we face.”~
But with Treasury said to be blocking increases to defence spending, including a deal for UK troops to be peacekeepers in Ukraine, the health secretary said it was up to Rachel Reeves to set out in future Budgets, adding: “I want to make sure I stay in my lane.”
A source close to Mr Streeting later clarified: “The government’s position is to increase defence spending and reform welfare. Wes didn’t link those two positions, and he robustly defended the abolition of the two-child limit, for which he was a strong advocate. Wes is a product of the welfare system, so knows the value of it, and the need to reform it, better than most.”
There was a furious backlash from charities and Labour MPs to the health secretary’s intervention.
Evan John, policy adviser at Sense, said: “It’s extremely concerning that the government seems to be laying the groundwork for further cuts to disability benefits, fuelling anxiety among disabled people already struggling as the cost of living rises.”
Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who led the welfare rebellion last year, warned: “I am clear that we have to provide household security and national security. It is a false choice to play one off against another. People supported by the Department for Work and Pensions are already struggling to make ends meet. The government must not contemplate such moves.”
With this sort of controversy within Labour, it is no wonder Starmer doesn't seem able to make a decision.
