Ellen Martin
Keir Starmer’s commitment to militarism is unwavering. Labour have demonstrated, including through their increase in military spending, militarist rhetoric, and commitment to militarist institutions, such as the arms industry, that they are ideologically ‘in thrall to war … influenced by and caught up in military ways’ (Eastwood 2018: 46). Starmer’s linking of militarism with economic growth is nothing new; military intervention and war preparation in Western countries have long been driven by a desire to defend, develop and expand liberal economies, such as empire, markets, and trade (e.g. see Edgerton 1991; 2008; Mabee 2016). However, the suggestion that greater military spending will create jobs, help small businesses, and promote regional equality, distorts that much of the benefit will be for the largest arms companies and the weak connection between investments in militarism and job creation (given it is a high-tech and minimal labour industry). It also obscures the much stronger benefits of investing in areas such as green energy and welfare, both of which the government is cutting.
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