A member of Labour’s ruling body has claimed the Tories are a bigger threat than terrorists in a video leaked to The Express.
Nadia Jama attacked the Government for increasing defence spending during an online conference call meeting with Labour activists involved in Labour’s campaign for nuclear disarmament, which included Jeremy Corbyn and many other senior Labour party members.
Accusing the government of misspending the £16 billion national defence boost, she said: “It’s the corporations and this Tory Government that the British people need protecting from”.
The left-wing activist, who was elected to Labour’s National Executive Committee last month, was joined on the call by Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Cabinet Minister Richard Burgon.
The Tories recently announced a £16 billion spending boost for national defence, based on concerns about cyber-warfare and to be partly allocated to counter the threat of organised crime and hostile states.
Labour’s frontbench welcome the increase in the defence budget when it was originally announced.
The UK is required to spend 2% of its £2.16 trillion in GDP on national defence every year by its NATO spending commitments. It is currently one of just a handful of countries that meet these NATO membership requirements.
Defence spending was around £50 billion in 2020, however the UK still ranks 8th globally in terms of spending allocated to the military & defence.
The National Cyber Security Centre defends the UK against 723 hacking attempts per year and this is projected to increase, as rogue states and organised crime step up their use of cyber-activism.
