CND PUBLISHES IT’S ALTERNATIVE DEFENCE REVIEW AMID GOVERNMENT’S NUCLEAR EXPANSION PLANS TO ARM UK .
The government’s Strategic Defence Review, published on Monday, will make the world more dangerous and the British population poorer in the process CND believes.
Plans to build up to 12 nuclear-powered submarines, as part of the Aukus Treaty with the US and Australia, will increase tensions as an already volatile situation is developing in the Asia Pacific.
Similarly, at a time of escalating dangers in Ukraine, the government’s decision to attempt to secure nuclear-capable F35A fighter jets from the US is utterly reckless and risks this conflict again escalating to the brink of nuclear war – as we saw in November last year.
As Britain’s 2025 Strategic Defence Review unfolds amid global turbulence, deepening climate chaos, and staggering inequality, the government has chosen a path that’s all too familiar: ramping up military spending.
But more bombs, more bases, and more weapons won’t heal our planet or bring our communities the security they deserve. Instead, these moves fan the flames of war, while draining the public purse and leaving society’s real needs in the shadows.
This Alternative Defence Review tears through the dominant war narrative—the one spun by political elites, the arms lobby, and a media chorus that confuses militarism for security. In its place, we plant the seeds of a future rooted in peace, social justice, and a reinvigorated vision of what national security truly means.
Drafted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), this review was inspired by the RMT union’s powerful call to bring together trade unions and peace groups to forge a fresh foreign policy—one that puts people, not profit or empire, at its heart.
We lay bare the corrosive effects of militarisation: how it hijacks our priorities, destabilises the world, tramples international law, and wrecks the environment. How it starves our hospitals and schools, while lining the pockets of arms dealers. We show that more military spending won’t deliver secure jobs or a fair economy—it’s a dead end. Instead, it’s time to reimagine security altogether.
We demand a pivot towards a demilitarised defence strategy that champions human and common security. That means diplomacy over drones, cooperation over conflict, and investment in what makes life worth living: health, education, climate resilience, social care, and green, unionised, well-paid jobs.
We call for a sharp cut in military budgets and an end to arms sales to regimes that commit human rights abuses—yes, that includes Israel and the Gulf states. We champion a Just Transition for workers and communities currently yoked to the arms industry, so no one’s left behind.
In these pages, you’ll find a credible, democratic alternative to the endless cycle of militarism—a roadmap for a sustainable, socially just economy built on peace, not war. The stakes are clear. Let’s rise to meet them.
You can order a copy of the report here.
