O’Neill blasts ‘turbo-charged Tory approach’ as Reeves promises extra £6.4bn for defence while cutting welfare by £4.8bn

That’s according to Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill who was reacting to the British Chancellor’s announcement on Wednesday that the Labour Government intends putting an extra £6.4billion into defence spending by 2027, while taking £4.8 billion out of the welfare budget through cuts by 2029-30.

“It is astonishing at a time when public services are on their knees; when we have endured 14 years of austerity and cuts; when small business might go to the wall; when winter fuel payments have been cut; when farmers are worried about inheritance tax; money that should be invested in public services is being diverted into weapons of war.

“The British government has made clear that it has no regard for ordinary workers and families or for public services here. It has made the wrong choices, focusing on a militarised budget and increasing weapons of war,” said Ms. O’Neill.

She made the comments after Ms. Reeves delivered her Spring Statement on Wednesday.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said: “Because we are living in an uncertain world, as the Prime Minister [Keir Starmer] has set out, we will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP and reduce overseas aid to 0.3% of gross national income.

“That means that we save £2.6 billion in day-to-day spending in 2029-30 to fund our more capital-intensive defence commitments.”

Ms. Reeves said the Government was commited to increasing spending on defence to 2.5 per cent of GDP from April 2027, describing this as ‘the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war’.

There was, she said, ‘an ambition to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence in the next Parliament’.

“That was the right decision in a more insecure world—we are putting an extra £6.4 billion into defence spending by 2027—but we have to move quickly in this changing world, and that starts with investment.

“Today, I can confirm that I will provide an additional £2.2 billion for the Ministry of Defence in the next financial year—a further down payment on our plan to deliver 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027,” she said.

Ms. Reeves confirmed that whilst defence spending was being boosted, welfare entitlements was being slashed.

The Chancellor told MPs how the British Work & Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall’s, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper included ‘reforms to incapacity and disability benefits which will save £4.8 billion from welfare spending in 2029-30, making the welfare system more pro-work and more fiscally sustainable’.

Ms. O’Neill said: “The Labour Chancellor has adopted a turbo charged Tory approach. The British government is totally failing people, using distraction tactics and creating fear and the threat of an invisible and unnamed enemy. The direction of travel for this British government is extremely worrying.

“In the face of economic challenges there is a choice to be made. History has shown the dangers of militarisation and the right-wing politics and polices that accompany this. After years of condemning Tory austerity and cuts this Labour government is now doubling down on austerity with cuts to fund military spending.”

Ms. O’Neill concluded: “It is obvious that British governments, whether Tory or Labour, have nothing to offer our people.”