European rearmament and the drive to war

Carol Turner reviews this Saturday’s CND Conference.

Labour Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced what she says are “the most sweeping asylum reforms in modern times.” Modelled on Danish legislation that is widely regarded as the most oppressive in Europe, her long list of measures includes lengthening the time before which leave to remain can be granted from 5 to 20 years, and making deporting undocumented migrants easier.

Driven by the Blue Labour faction Mahmood belongs to, these draconian measures have been received with delight by Reform and the Tories who immediately and predictably demanded more. With typical showmanship, Nigel Farage responded by inviting the Labour Secretary of State to join Reform!

Mahmood’s response to the clamour created by Reform and the Tories will further divide an already divided party. This is a poisoned chalice for Labour, and not just among its MPs, as the Labour Hub report well documents. It has already drawn protests across the party, from NGOs, and even our predominantly compliant media.

But why should a discussion about rearmament and war begin with asylum laws?

War as a driver of immigration

It is widely acknowledged that the main factors behind population flows are the desire to escape conflict, the adverse effects of climate change and the need to avoid persecution and human rights violations. The UN reports the global total of migrants in 2024 was 304 million.

Behind all these issues is the growing gap between rich and poor, relentlessly driving up migration.  Today, more people than ever before live in a country other than the one in which they were born. Growing efforts by governments of the global north to close their borders to migrants create further hardship for them, without resolving these long-term population flows.

The military bootprint is stamped as deeply on climate change as it is on war. Many reports from Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) attest to the details. SGR Director Stuart Parkinson will address this at CND’s Conference this Saturday. Sabby Dhalu, Co-convenor of Stand up to Racism, joins Jeremy Corbyn and others in the opening session of Stop Nuclear Expansion: How to Reverse the War Drive which takes place in person in London.

Europe’s drift to war

Few would dispute that 2005 has been dominated by preparations for war. Under pressure from President Donald Trump, Europe is preparing to take on a greater share of the military burden and financial cost of the continent’s security. The Council of Europe is encouraging military integration, promoting Europe-wide procurement, and offering loans for increased military spending.

In Britain, the government increasingly talks about ‘war readiness’. Not only has that meant increasing military spending – from the current 2.2%, to 2.7% in 2027, including more spending on security services, with hints of an increase to 5% by 2035. War readiness has also included expanding the UK’s nuclear capability.

Starmer has not only accepted the return of US nuclear bombs to Britain, but also purchased US nuclear-capable fighter jets which will form part of NATO’s European nuclear-sharing arrangements. All this has taken place without debate or vote in Parliament. With Trump in the White House, the drift to war is starting to look like a stampede.

These developments are beginning to be met by anti-war coalitions coming together, such as Stop ReArm Europe. In Britain, a new generation of peace campaigners is taking to the streets and protesting at military bases seeking to change the public dialogue.

A  new nuclear arms race

European preparations for war are replicated across the globe. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s 2025 handbook warns a new arms race is opening up, the risks from which are likely to be “more diverse and more serious.”

SIPRI  reports global security continues to deteriorate, in particular:

• global military spending was up for the tenth successive year, exceeding $2.7 trillion (that’s $2,700,000,000,0000) in 2024
• “new uncertainties arose” as a result of President Trump’s election, and
• major armed conflicts in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan, as well the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s continued slaughter in Gaza.

CND Conference workshops will drill down into some of these details — including a briefing on Britain’s nuclear expansion and an activist-led discussion about shutting down nuclear bases. Themes include European rearmament, the Ukraine war, the defence jobs myth, militarism in education, the rise of the far right, and a climate breakdown workshop with CND’s newly elected Vice Chair Murad Qureshi,

Changing the conversation

CND wants to change the national conversation. We urgently need to push back against  rearmament and military spending, to spread beyond the peace and anti-war movements, and the more progressive and far sighted sections of the labour movement into wider sections of British society.

Our conference is looking at solutions too — building opposition to war and nuclear expansion on the streets, in the unions, and across the universities. Join us and help change the dialogue: register now at https://tinyurl.com/CNDStopWarDrive.

Carol Turner is a CND vice-chair and convener of its International Advisory Group. She is a long-time peace and anti-war campaigner, and author of Corbyn and Trident: Labour’s Continuing Controversy and Walter Wolfgang: A Political Life.

Image: CND badge https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CND_badge,_1960s.jpg Author: Gerald Holtom, photographed by BirchallDanny, made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.