A Christian response to the Defence Investment Plan
By Carol Burns, Pax Christi in the Leeds Diocese
The government has just announced its Defence Investment Plan in advance of the Nato summit in Ankara. How should we respond as Christians faithful to the non-violent Jesus? Perhaps what we need to do is find a different starting point.
Yes, the government needs to ensure that its population is secure, but why does that have to be military security with ever increasing spending on high status hardware? Why do we need to keep investing in nuclear weapons?
UK military spending stands at £90 billion, and the government have pledged an increase of 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament.
Yet we rarely hear a challenge to this model of security, the wastage and inefficiency in defence procurement and the impact on the climate.
In a BBC radio interview on 15 June, the World Health Organisation’s Director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
“There is more spending in defence and less spending in global health or in public health or health security, which makes us vulnerable…Because the invisible enemy could be more impactful. Imagine, have you ever seen a war in recent memory that killed 20 million people? Why can’t we come to our senses?”
He accused world leaders of approaching geo-political problems with might rather than investment in preventing poverty and disease.
By contrast, the UK government has been cutting UK aid spending since 2021. In February further planned cuts were announced from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP by 2027. There are also cuts in the ‘soft power’ approaches to security: diplomacy, advocacy, education and information sharing, dialogue, and the involvement of civil society networks in conflict prevention. The British Council and the BBC World Service have had their budgets cut despite the valuable social and cultural relations they have created between the UK and the global community
The real threats we face as a nation and as a global community are climate change, climate migration and destruction of natural ecosystems; an increase in poverty both within and between countries and a lack of investment in national and global health and disease prevention.
These arguments are the substance of a letter sent by 50 Aid NGOs, climate change organisations and peace organisations. However, it’s not easy to convince doubters that we should change our approach. The threat from Russia is visible and real! Yet it is possible to argue a case for less spending on defence that some military strategists would agree with.
This was very effectively argued in a talk John Heathershaw, (Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter, and also research associate at the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence at Bristol Baptist College) gave to the Network of Christian Peace Organisations in April 2026.
His is not a pacificist standpoint but makes a case for defence rather than offence
Some key ideas
- The UK is not a global power anymore, it’s a regional power and can’t play a global military role.
- There is no indication of how to pay for the increased spending and what social expenditure will be sacrificed. It is well known that defence spending is one of the most inefficient modes of economic stimulus.
- Much of the proposed spend is on expensive high tech weapons including nuclear weapons. Are they defensive weapons?
Professor Heathershaw goes on to detail what a realistic, hopeful and ‘Christian’ Strategic Defence Review would look like.
He gives a realistic and pragmatic outline of an alternative defence strategy – whilst not being naive about the threat of despots like Putin. Balancing political realism with eschatological hope, he outlines three areas
- Step back from a global role, and abandon a role in the Indo- Pacific and handover contested territories to international administration
- Focus on civil defence such as cyber, antisabotage and policing territorial waters. Counter espionage, addressing state linked organized crime and countering the threat of kleptocracy to the rule of law are also non military approaches
- Focus our security on being more Europeanised, this means cost can be shared.
He concludes,
‘our call is not to turn swords into ploughshares but one where nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore’ (Isaiah 2:4)
(My thanks to Pat Gaffney and Women in Black, London for sharing their latest leaflet, elements of which is included in this text.)
The full text of the NGO letter is here
Open Letter to PM on Military Spending
The full talk by John Heathershaw is here
“Exploring and critiquing the moral argument for increased defence spending in the UK and Europe”
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