Burnham’s national care service won’t happen under military spending plans, Labour fringe hears

ANDY BURNHAM’S plans to create a national care service for England won’t happen if his government goes ahead with military spending increases, University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference today. She said she had watched “with joy” when the Prime Minister announced on Sunday that he would offer free social care services to voters at the next general election. Ms Grady said that her conversations with ministers suggested “the dial has shifted” on military spending since Mr Burnham entered 10 Downing Street, but “we can’t do that if we are investing £250 billion over the next few years in military expenditure.” On post-16 education, however, she said: “It beggars belief that a lot of this has been getting worse over the last two years under a Labour government. “It sometimes feels like our democracy is hanging by a thread. It’s no surprise that the politics of finger-pointing has gone hand in hand with fewer people being able to access decent education in their communities.” Tax Justice UK executive director Faiza Shaheen said that, while working in Costa Rica, “I had all these normal, everyday people saying to me: ‘Oh, decades ago, we took the money from defence and we don’t have an army now and we put it into education.’ “That was such a point of pride for those people and I think that would be true here as well.” She said the fight against militarism needed “specific villains,” adding that Palantir UK chief Louis Mosley was the “most sinister man” she had ever met after they spoke on BBC television’s Politics Live. The US spy tech giant has military as well as government contracts, including with the NHS. Labour MP for Leeds East Richard Burgon said: “More and more spending on weapons cannot prevent a pandemic, repair the electricity grid or protect communities from floods, fire or extreme heat. “At worst, it will spearhead an international arms race that makes conflict and even nuclear conflict more likely and not less likely. “The choice for Labour is between a world government by [US President Donald] Trump’s vision of brute force, military intervention and impunity or a world where we defend international law, resist the drive and oppose the demands for ever higher military spending.” Nearly 4,000 people have now been arrested for peacefully supporting Palestine Action since it was designated a terror group in July 2025 RICHARD BURGON MP looks at the change the Labour government must now deliver under a new leadership