£12,000 a Minute: Corbyn Attacks Submarine Billions as Hiroshima Anniversary Nears

Burnham defends an £8.4bn nuclear investment as 47,000 jobs for young people — his critics ask what the same money would buy in schools and the NHS

The British government has announced an £8.4 billion ($11.2 billion) investment in the next phase of its Dreadnought-class nuclear submarine programme, prompting sharp criticism from Jeremy Corbyn days before the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham was due to unveil the funding at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Barrow, north-west England, with Downing Street framing it as “a major £8.4bn investment in the UK’s nuclear deterrent, delivering jobs and opportunity for young people for years to come.” The framing is deliberate: Burnham’s new administration has made rising youth unemployment a central priority.

‘Imagine if we spent that money on social care’

Corbyn, now leader of This is Your Party, condemned the announcement in a post on X. “Next week is the anniversary of Hiroshima,” he wrote. “Today, the Prime Minister has announced more investment in weapons of mass destruction.”

“The UK spends £12,000 every minute on nuclear weapons,” he added. “Imagine if we spent that money on social care, schools and the NHS instead.”

What the money buys

BAE Systems has been contracted to deliver four Dreadnought-class submarines as part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, and will receive £5.9 billion ($7.87 billion) of the total, with the remainder going to the wider supply chain.

Downing Street said the funding would help the first vessel, HMS Dreadnought, complete sea trials and enter service with the Royal Navy in the early 2030s, allow the second, HMS Valiant, to reach sea trials, and carry the third and fourth boats forward through construction.

Burnham said the programme would support 47,000 jobs and apprenticeships. The submarines “will protect Britain for decades to come, and the 47,000 jobs and apprenticeships will change lives both in this town and in dozens of places like it,” he was expected to tell workers at Barrow. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the investment “secures our commitment to deliver Dreadnought Class submarines by backing British industry.”

Pressure from Washington and Brussels

The announcement forms part of a wider commitment of more than £63 billion ($84 billion) over the next four years to fund the nuclear deterrent under the government’s Defence Investment Plan — a figure that also covers the attack submarines being developed under the AUKUS alliance with Australia and the United States.

Burnham is under pressure from the US and NATO allies to raise military spending while simultaneously confronting a £4.7 billion ($6.27 billion) shortfall in the defence plan over the same period.

Reference: Al-Mayadeen