Defence
War is the enemy. Government must work with allies to stop conflicts breaking out and neutralise threats to the UK.
| The Peoples Party must: |
|---|
| understand that the nature of the threat and the type of defence required to protect citizens against conflicts has fundamentally changed |
| not look for “enemies” but build relationships, seeking to understand the causes of tensions, defusing them before they lead to conflict. In today’s world, we must stop wars, not plan to fight them |
| create an integrated British Defence Force (BDF), merging the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force with the intelligence services and new national police force, with the primary objective to work to protect against terrorist threats, cyber attack and large scale organised criminal activity |
| cut traditional defence expenditure dramatically to £2bn |
| double intelligence and technology expenditure to £4bn. Covert actions, smart interventions and “winning without trumpeting” are vital to keeping us safe against the threats we face |
| ensure that the UK works with partners in NATO to concentrate on the development of small special forces units designed to undertake continuous worldwide operations against threats and to support allies with training and equipment. We must leverage our involvement to give the best value outcomes |
| work to change hostile and potentially dangerous regimes from within, supporting and encouraging dissent |
| use financial, information and cyber warfare technologies to frustrate and defeat actual and potential threats while at the same time protecting the United Kingdom from counterattacks. We must proactively hack the hackers, and financially cripple any enemy |
| decommission Trident and stop its replacement. We must redouble efforts to prevent nuclear material from getting into the hands of terrorists, and rogue states |
| support efforts to deliver a world without nuclear weapons. We believe that far from making us and the world safer, the accidental use of nuclear weapons is one of the biggest threats we face |
| ensure that sufficient funding is allocated to civil defence equipment against WMD’s, with the comprehensive provision of PPE, vaccines and medicines |
| rejoin the EU to work with colleagues to ensure peace in Europe, the source of hundreds of years of conflict |
Modern warfare has the potential to destroy the planet. To prevent it we must learn the lessons of history. We must remove the causes of war and the weapons that enable it. We must not shirk the responsibility to think anew about how best to ensure peace. We must have a clear view of our objectives and understand the critical importance of success.
We must act against dictators and elites to nip threats in the bud, before they lead to war. We must work to free people from state repression and totalitarianism.
Weapons enable wars. We believe it is time to stop playing with “boy’s toys.” We need a rigorous evaluation of what weapons we need and what weapons we do not. Most traditional defence structures are outdated. Posturing or tokenism does nothing to make people more secure. Generals nearly always prepare to fight the last war; we must provide security by focusing on how best to secure peace now and in the future.
We must not fall victim to the “defence industry,” but take the lead and work with allies in NATO, other governments and political movements ready to adopt a more mature and progressive attitude to the dangers and waste of military spending. Short term we must invest in defensive weapons that can deter and, if necessary, be used by allies to defeat aggression.
Ultimately, defence is not a matter of emotion and sentiment but is one of life or death. Hard decisions must be taken, and along with a complete overall of the armed services, we must unilaterally abolish the UK’s nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are dreadful, they have no practical military value, and their use would cause inconceivable death and destruction – there are no circumstances in which we should “press the button.”
It is nonsense to worry about climate change while investing in weapons that would precipitate an environmental catastrophe. We should use the skills of nuclear engineers to save, rather than potentially destroy, our world.
We need to recognise that military force cannot successfully deter many of the actual threats we need to address. These include terrorism, WMD’s, cyber/hybrid warfare, pandemics and “accidental conflicts” set against the backdrop of the challenge of climate change.
We must also keep these challenges in perspective. For instance, creating an atmosphere of fear helps terrorists, unnecessarily curtails freedom and diverts disproportionate resources from other areas. Less than 100 UK citizens have been killed by terrorists in the last 20 years, whereas more than 1,500,000 have died prematurely from smoking, with tens of thousands more deaths linked to air pollution in our towns and cities. So far, over 165,000 have been killed by COVID-19 and many thousands more indirectly.
Cyber threats are genuine, and attacks are happening today. Many more are being planned or seeded in computer systems. A significant proportion of online fraud, crime against British citizens, is committed from abroad. The economic damage and potentially life threatening consequences of these attacks must be tackled effectively.