Former NATO Secretary General (1999-2003) George Robertson has urged the UK government to prioritise defence spending over social services.
“Guns or oil“ or defence versus social security is not the most effective argument. The government's duty is to protect and secure its people and that must come first, before other public spending“, Robertson said, speaking at a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on National Security Strategy.
“It would be terrible to think that it would take a real crisis, a real attack on the UK to understand the nature of the threats we face“, quoted the “Times“ newspaper the former British defence secretary (1997-1999) in Tony Blair's government. "There will be no oil if we don't have weapons. It's as simple as that," he said, expressing bewilderment that the social spending budget "is five times larger than defence spending." "Are we sure that's the right priority?" asked the former NATO secretary general.
"If war breaks out, it will be very expensive. We only finished paying for World War II in 2016. And that was a war we won, so it's a much more expensive undertaking than deterrence," Robertson said. He is one of the authors of the 114-page Strategic Review of the UK's Defence, presented in the summer of 2025, which lists the main threats and recommendations for improving the readiness of the armed forces.
Two weeks ago, Robertson said that the UK leadership does not pay enough attention to defence issues, makes meaningless statements and does not invest in rearmament.