On Wednesday, June 11, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered her Spending Review 2025 [1] to the House of Commons, outlining how the Labour government intends to allocate government spending across departments over the rest of the term of this Parliament. What was so striking about the Chancellor's speech was her claim that the Review was to make "working people in all parts of our country better off, to rebuild our schools and our hospitals, and to invest in our economy". This is an illusion promoted in order to try and keep working people on-side. Reeves wove fraudulent arguments throughout her presentation designed to try and make this conclusion convincing. The reality, however, is that the verbiage about "national" and "economic" renewal as a real uplift in immediate investment "to grow our economy" was actually heavily focused on "defence spending" and "intelligence agencies". Although Reeves spoke about industrial infrastructure, such as steel, transport and nuclear energy, she emphasised that it was in support of "our defence capability". In other words, it was not in the direction of peace and prosperity at home and abroad but rather in the interests of the ruling elite to wage wars and interfere in other countries for their own narrow interests. The government is seeking to continue and step up its belligerent and interventionist role. It is aiming that its striving for domination on the coattails of the US, which demands to be recognised as the world's "indispensable nation", should continue unabated and unchallenged.

Reeves tried to set the scene of the UK's financial priorities, first of all focusing on her self-proclaimed "fiscal rules". Her first rule was of economic "stability: day-to-day Government spending should be paid for through tax receipts." So this was nothing new and nor was the promised increased annual growth in departmental budgets a year of 2.3% which she dressed up to look good. She said she was setting "out in the Budget, to allocate £190 billion more to the day-to-day running of our public services over the course of this spending review [the term of Parliament] compared with the previous Government's plans." However, this increase only amounted to her claim to address the very low bar indeed of a massive reduction in funding of public services by the 2010 Coalition government. But her Spending Review of claiming to increase departmental budgets annually by 2.3% neither matched, nor addressed both the real inflationary pressures, or the necessary investments in any restoration let alone "economic renewal" of health and other public services today.

The Chancellor then said that "my second fiscal rule enables me" to invest in "Britain's economic renewal while getting public debt on a downward path". It was this pay-the-rich rule to please the financial oligarchy that she claimed allowed her to increase "public investment" by more than £100 billion in the autumn and a further £13 billion in the spring. These immediate investment plans were "investment to rebuild our transport networks, our defence capability and our energy security" and claimed that this would "in short grow our economy". The mendacity is that this is intended to ensure that "economic renewal is felt in people's lives", when really such investment is aimed at funding the transport company infrastructure, energy sector including a new nuclear power station costing £14 billion for Sizewell C, with £2.5 billion for a new small modular reactor programme, and massively expanding the armament industry.

The whole Spending Review presented by the Chancellor omitted to mention the reality that Britain's economy is in deep crisis and that is what is "being felt in people's lives". No, Reeves underlying concern is to bolster Britain's "war-ready economy" and facilitate executive rule. As the review was announced, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) [2] the early estimate of pay-rolled employees for May 2025 (mainly in the service sector but also manufacturing) decreased by a staggering 109,000 (0.4%) on the month and decreased by 274,000 (0.9%) on the year to 30.2 million. These latest figures are a deepening of the trend of increased unemployment within the UK. The unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and over is estimated at 4.6% in February to April 2025. ONS point out that "this is above estimates of a year ago, and up in the latest quarter".

Yet defence spending in this "economic renewal" will "now rise to 2.6% of GDP by April 2027, including the contribution of our intelligence agencies". That uplift provides "an £11 billion increase in defence spending and a £600 million uplift for our security and intelligence agencies." The Chancellor claimed that this investment will deliver not only "security", but "renewal" in Aldermaston and Lincoln; in Portsmouth and Filton; on the Clyde and in Rosyth. "Investment in Scotland, jobs in Scotland, and defence for the United Kingdom."

This is in line with Keir Starmer's speech of March 13 in which he elaborated Labour's plan for "Change". The central theme of this plan is that it will enable "active government" so as to achieve its goals of "national security" and "national renewal". Under the signboard of "enhancing effectiveness and efficiency", the reforms are directed to enabling both the state and private interests to operate unfettered by regulatory constraint. This was also the significance of abolishing NHS England, and putting the health service under the control of the Executive.

Furthermore, in line with the government's attempt to put Britain on "war-fighting readiness" in the Strategic Defence Review [3] announced last week, the Chancellor repeated the justification of the Prime Minister that the aim of "national" and "economic" renewal was a real uplift in investment that focuses on "security" and "defence spending".

This direction for the economy outlined in the Spending Review 2025 is not about security for the British people and certainly not about peace. Militarisation of an economy only leads to further insecurity and war. The unprecedented growth of military industries itself has become a huge lobby to lead the government in their wars that they are already deeply involved in abroad. Today it already drives Britain's military participation in and support for the genocide in Israel against the Palestinians. It is continuing to supply the Israelis with British-manufactured weapons in launching their criminal bombing of Iran. It has supported the Saudi bombing of Yemen for over a decade and now more recently alongside the US directly criminally bombing Yemen as well. It is also these war industries that are demanding that NATO's proxy war in Ukraine continue to the "last Ukrainian" against Russia so that they can continue to produce the weapons that fuel the war and huge profits.

At the same time, such a war economy also has ruinous effects on the economic and financial life of the country. As we have seen over the last months, the huge increase in unemployment in Britain and the increasing insecurity of the livelihoods of the people will not be addressed by the so-called new jobs in the war industries, or in aiming the energy, steel and transport industries at war preparations. Quite the opposite. The weapons produced do not go into circulation in the economy and neither does the energy, steel and transport resources used to produce them. The massive military spending contributes to the soaring government deficit, which the government seeks to pay off by issuing more digital and paper currency as well as through raising taxes, cutting back on services, and so on. Unemployment and inflation are disproportionally created, with "too many pounds chasing too few goods and services".

In summary, the main aim of the Spending Review is not about "defence" or "security" for the British people but to take Britain in the direction of a war-ready economy for the criminal interests of the ruling elite and their ambitions to conquer markets abroad and destroy other countries that they cannot control. This cannot be accepted. Workers' Weekly calls on the whole working class and people's movements to be vigilant and step up the fight in defence of the rights of all and for people's empowerment in these circumstances. Economic renewal will only be served by people speaking out in their own name and in their collectives for all that serves their own interests for peace and real economic and national security. Reject the government's plan to dress-up the direction to a war economy as "renewal" of the economy!

Notes
1. Spending Review 2025, Volume 768: debated on Wednesday 11 June 2025
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-06-11/debates/AA2E816F-02F9-4C3A-920A-BAFEDF4B422E/SpendingReview2025
2. Labour market overview, ONS UK: June 2025
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/june2025
3. Strategic Defence Review: Starmer's Attempt to Put Britain on "War-Fighting Readiness" Cannot Be Accepted, Workers' Weekly June 7 2025
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-25/ww25-13/ww25-13.htm

Mass protests in Tehran, Iran, on June 14, 2025, denouncing US-backed Israeli aggression

On Thursday, June 12, Israel launched a pre-planned criminal aggression against Iran. Israeli-US fighter jets, with the support of Israeli Mossad agents who had infiltrated inside Iran and with US and British intelligence and logistics support bombed over 100 locations across Iran overnight. They continued during the day, dangerously targeting nuclear sites and top Iranian officials and scientists killing hundreds of people including 60 civilians, killings which included 20 children in one strike on an apartment block. Israel has continued its attempt at criminally bombing of Iran every day since whilst Iran has justly responded shooting down several Israeli-US fighter bombers and firing missiles to destroy military sites in Israel to end this aggression against Iran.

This attack by the genocidal Israeli regime on Iran as a matter of fact has had the full military and intelligence involvement of the US and Britain, supplying extra air defences and weapons to Israel through Britain's base in Cyprus and in many cases having to divert these weapons away from the NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. Facts are still emerging, but already it was reported that a British destroyer was used to help guide Israeli missiles towards Iranian territory with this destroyer being forced to move away from Iranian waters by the Iranian navy [1]. Also, Britain has deployed Typhoon jets and Voyager refuelling aircraft to the Middle East as part of what Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as "contingency support" amid the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. This is despite the despicable lies that Foreign Secretary David Lammy reported to Parliament on Monday that "the United Kingdom was not involved in the strikes against Iran". Lammy went on to claim that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was "now at the G7 Summit in Canada, discussing with our closest allies how to ease tensions." There was no condemnation of the attack on Iran in line with Britain's obligations to uphold international law.

It also came as no surprise that the Group of Seven (G-7) [2], including Britain, prepared a statement on Saturday, June 14, that was published Monday, June 16 (due to the delay in US President's Trump change of mind in first not signing it then agreeing to sign it), expressing support for Israel. The statement "recognised Israel's inherent right to defend itself" and criticised and "labelled its rival Iran as a source of instability in the Middle East". This tries to justify the unjustifiable. Israeli war crimes in Gaza have already killed at least 55,432 people - men, women and children. The G-7 statement refused even to condemn the latest state terrorist crime of the Israeli regime in its unprovoked attack on Iran. The Anglo-US backed Israeli regime is the real source of instability in the Middle East. Iran has always stood with the Palestinian people alongside the people of the world. It is further confirmation that all the peace-loving peoples and countries should condemn not only Israel but also the G-7 countries who have over the last 18 months exposed themselves as the Genocide-7 in the eyes of the people of the world.

On Tuesday, June 10, Britain the US and other western powers engaged in a well orchestrated preparation for Israel's attack on Iran later in the week. Some of these western powers, including the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, had formally submitted a resolution to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) condemning Iran's so-called "non-compliance" with its nuclear obligations, a charge that Iran and its highest authorities completely denied. They were co-operating with the IAEA and they were directly in negotiations with the US planning to meet with the US negotiation team on Sunday, June 15. Yet on Thursday the US and Britain, as well as some of the G-7 assassins, assisted in covering for Israel in its aggression against Iran and even in its criminal bombing of the nuclear power facilities in Iran whilst the IAEA inspectors were reportedly in Iran.

Making a statement on Monday, June 16, to Parliament, Foreign Secretary David Lammy briefly mentioned that "Israel had launched extensive strikes across Iran. Targets including military sites, including the Iranian enrichment facility at Natanz, and key commanders and nuclear scientists." The Foreign Secretary acted as though Britain had no responsibility to condemn such a reckless and criminal action by Israel.

The British working class and people must demand that the government immediately condemn the Israeli regime's assault on Iran, its nuclear facilities and its assassinations of people in Iran. They must condemn the use of force to sort out problems.

Israel is a terrorist state committing genocide against the Palestine people whose land it occupies. The British government's support for arming Israel and supporting it as an "ally" must be ended. Britain must support Iran in exercising its right to self-defence and demand that Israel cease its attack on Iran and ends its genocide against the Palestinian people.

Hands off Iran!
Condemn the Use of Force to Sort Out Problems!
Stop Arming Israel!
Stop the Genocide Now!

Notes
1. Iran's Navy intercepts British destroyer in Indian Ocean as Starmer moves military assets to West Asia - First Post, June 15 2025
https://www.firstpost.com/world/irans-navy-intercepts-british-destroyer-in-indian-ocean-as-starmer-moves-military-assets-to-west-asia-13897352.html
2. Press release - Joint statement of the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Charlevoix
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-of-the-g7-foreign-ministers-meeting-in-charlevoix

June 13, 2025, Security Council meeting

The following statement was delivered by H E Mr Amir Saeid Iravani, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations on June 13 at the emergency meeting of the Security Council to demand Israel be held to account for its illegal aggression against Iran during the early hours of the morning.

Madam President,

We extend our sincere congratulations to Guyana on assuming the Presidency of the Security Council this month, and we thank you for your co-ordination and for convening this urgent and important meeting.

We appreciate USG [Under-Secretary-General], Ms DiCarlo, and DG [IAEA Director General], Mr Grossi, for their contribution to this meeting.

We also wish to express our appreciation to Algeria, Pakistan, China, and the Russian Federation for their support in convening this emergency session to address Israel's unlawful act of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a grave violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

I address the Council today on behalf of the people and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the utmost urgency and grave alarm.

Madam President,

Last night, the Israeli regime, the most dangerous and terrorist regime in the world, with full intelligence and political support from the United States regime, conducted a series of co-ordinated and premeditated military attacks across multiple cities in Iran. These acts of aggression and unlawful strikes target peaceful nuclear facilities, military sites, vital civilian infrastructure, and residential areas.

Among the key targets was the Natanz nuclear facility, a safeguarded site under the full monitoring of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Madam President,

We strongly and unequivocally condemn these barbaric and criminal attacks. A series of targeted assassinations were against senior military officials, nuclear scientists, and innocent civilians. So far, 78 people, including senior military officials, have been martyred and over 320 others injured, the overwhelming majority of them civilians, including women and children.

Earlier today, Israel continued its acts of aggression against Iran, once again targeting multiple civilian and military sites across several Iranian cities.

These deliberate and systematic killings were not only illegal but inhumane, a chilling display of calculated aggression.

These atrocities constitute clear acts of state terrorism and flagrant violations of international law.

Madam President,

The inaction of the United Nations, the Security Council, and the IAEA, despite repeated and documented warnings by the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding Israeli threats against its nuclear sites, has seriously undermined their credibility and authority. Their silence in the face of repeated Israeli provocations has emboldened this rogue regime to escalate its violations and cross every red line.

Let us be clear: this reckless attack on safeguarded nuclear facilities defies not only the fundamental principles of international law but also basic human conscience. Any damage to these facilities risks catastrophic radiological consequences that would not be confined to Iran, but could spread across the region and beyond. Only a regime devoid of humanity and responsibility would endanger millions of lives in pursuit of its destructive ambitions.

These actions stand in direct violation of numerous legal instruments, including the IAEA Statute, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Geneva Conventions, and multiple Security Council and IAEA General Conference resolutions, all of which prohibit attacks or threats against nuclear facilities under safeguards.

Above all, this aggression is a grave breach of the United Nations Charter, particularly Article 2(4), which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any Member State.

Israel also violated Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Permanent Mission of Iraq today formally protested and condemned this violation of its territorial integrity in a letter to the Security Council and the Secretary-General.

Madam President,

Those who support this regime, with the United States at the forefront, must understand that they are complicit. By aiding and enabling these crimes, they share full responsibility for the consequences. Supporting Israel today is supporting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the deliberate undermining of global peace and security.

The Israeli regime's long-standing crimes against the oppressed Palestinian people, its repeated violations of the sovereignty of regional countries, and its possession of undeclared weapons of mass destruction have made the Middle East a cauldron of chronic instability since its creation. It is long overdue for the international community to act: this regime must be disarmed of all WMDs [Weapons of Mass Destruction], placed under international supervision, and held fully accountable.

Madam President,

This is not a regional issue. This is not merely an attack on one country. This is a direct assault on the international order, an attack on the Charter of the United Nations, the UN system, the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, as well as the authority of the IAEA.

Israel's leadership, including its criminal Prime Minister, has shamelessly and publicly claimed responsibility for these heinous acts. Israel's officials said that this aggression aims to "wreck nuclear talks". This confession alone is enough to reveal the real motives behind the attack: to kill diplomacy, to sabotage negotiations, and to drag the region into wider conflict. This leaves no room for denial.

Furthermore, the aggression was intentional, co-ordinated, and fully backed by a permanent member of this Council, the United States.

The United States complicity in this terrorist attacks is beyond doubt, the officials of the United States have expressly and brazenly confessed their wilful aid and assistance in the crimes and gross violations that the Israeli regime committed as of last night including their deliberate transfer of arms; we will not forget that our people lost their lives as result of the Israeli attacks with American weapons.

These actions amount to a declaration of war. They are the latest in a long and well-documented pattern of lawless, destabilizing, and aggressive behaviour by the Israeli regime, a regime that acts with impunity because it is shielded by powerful allies. This must end.

Madam President,

The Security Council must act now, firmly and decisively. In 1981, this very Council responded unanimously to Israel's military attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor by adopting Resolution 487 (1981), which unequivocally condemned the aggression as a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. The Council also called on this criminal regime to refrain from any such acts or threats in the future. Had the Council enforced that resolution and held Israel accountable at the time, this regime would not have been emboldened to continue its unlawful behaviour with impunity. The current aggression is a direct consequence of decades of inaction and double standards.

Madam President,

The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms its inherent right to self-defence, as enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter. Iran will respond decisively and proportionately to these acts of aggression, at a time, in a place, and by means of its choosing. This is not a threat. It is the natural, legal, and necessary consequence of an unprovoked military attack.

Iran's response will be firm, lawful, and essential to restore deterrence, defend our sovereignty, and uphold the principles of international law. No aggressor can be allowed to act with impunity.

Madam President,

We have requested this emergency meeting because we expect this Council to fulfil its Charter mandate. The Security Council must condemn, in the strongest possible terms, Israel's unlawful aggression. It must take immediate, concrete measures to hold the Israeli regime accountable and to prevent the further erosion of international peace and security.

Anything less would signal the collapse of the international system and invite chaos.

Let me conclude with a simple and undeniable truth:

Israel attacked Iran.

Israel violated international law and the UN Charter.

And Israel must be held accountable.

The Security Council must act now and stop these acts of aggression immediately.

Silence is complicity in this crime.

Thank you.

Tens of thousands gathered in central London, particularly around Parliament Square
and outside Downing Street condemning the aggression against Iran, 14-06-2025.

Following Israel's strikes on Iran, people in towns and cities across Britain condemned the aggression in rallies and demonstrations.

Tens of thousands gathered in central London, particularly around Parliament Square and outside Downing Street. Called by the organisations Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and Friends of Al-Aqsa, and in spontaneous gatherings, the protests called for an immediate ceasefire, an end to UK arms exports to Israel, an end to starvation as a weapon of genocide in Gaza, and no to war against Iran.

Demonstrations were also held Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol and elsewhere.

In Newcastle, a rally was held at the Monument on June 14. Speakers pointed out that Iran is one of the few countries that have continually opposed the US, Britain and their proxy Israel and stood with the Palestinians and their resistance; the Iranians have always supported the rights of the Palestinians and opposed Israel's occupations, as well as the plots of the Anglo-US imperialists to effect regime change. Iran is a road block to their genocidal plans for Palestinians and the Middle East. It was also pointed out that the US and Britain were fully involved supplying extra air defences and weapons to Israel through Britain's base in Cyprus. Speakers called on the British government to condemn the attack on Iran. As one speaker said: "The people of Britain must stand with Iran and as the anti-war movement have said so many times over the last twenty years, the slogan Hands Off Iran! holds true today."

A National March for Palestine is taking place on Saturday, June 21, in London, beginning at Russell Square at noon, and marching to Whitehall.