THE UK risks “facing the worldwide conflict crisis with one hand tied behind its back”, unless it invests in development and diplomacy, the Prime Minister has been warned by senior figures including former heads of MI5 and the armed forces.
Lord Evans of Weardale, a former director general of the British Security Service, who chairs the Canterbury Crown Nominations Committee, is joined by the Bishop to the Armed Forces, the Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, and the Bishops of London and Southwell & Nottingham, in a letter warning that initiatives to handle the basis causes of conflict may “disappear” amid cuts to the help budget.
Published on Tuesday, the letter was coordinated by the chairs of the All-party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding: Alex Ballinger, a former Marine, and Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale. Highlighting that violent conflict is now impacting more countries than at any point for the reason that Second World War, it urges the Prime Minister to “set out the Government’s strategy and commitment to resourcing civilian efforts to stop and address” it, inside the National Security Strategy, as a consequence of be published before the NATO summit next week.
“To durably strengthen national security, due to this fact, the Government must invest not only in defence, but additionally in development and diplomacy. This includes vital initiatives that prevent, resolve and address the basis causes of conflicts in addition to those which help societies get well . . . Yet we’re gravely concerned that these initiatives may disappear amidst cuts to the help budget. This can be a false economy . . . It would also mark the UK’s effective withdrawal from agendas it once championed.”
Without adequately funding such initiatives, it says, “the UK might risk facing the worldwide conflict crisis with one hand tied behind its back”. On Wednesday, Bishop Nelson said: “The world is more dangerous now than it has been for many years. The Global Peace Index 2025 says we’re at a tipping point. The Government is clearly right to take a position in our armed forces, and as Christians we’re also called to work for peace.”
Among the signatories is the previous development secretary Sir Andrew Mitchell, who told the International Development Committee in February that specializing in conflict prevention during his time in office had been “absolutely in our national interest . . . It made life more bearable, particularly for girls in Somalia, but it surely also made us safer on the streets of London and Birmingham, too.”
The Government confirmed last week that spending on defence would rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, funded by cuts to the help budget (News, 28 February).
