See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy DAILY MAIL COMMENT Published: 00:08 BST, 8 June 2026 | Updated: 01:18 BST, 8 June 2026
The latest warning concerning the importance of strengthening Britain's Armed Forces comes from an irreproachable source.General Sir Richard Shirreff, Nato's former Deputy Supreme Commander Europe, said it was vital for the UK to 'spend now' to avoid 'catastrophic costs' in bloodshed further down the line.As Labour's much-delayed Defence Investment Plan has still not seen the light of day, Sir Richard called for 'political leadership' and 'tough choices'.The type of diplomatic language deployed by this professional soldier echoes many dire warnings from others before him.In private they must be screaming to themselves: 'In God's name, how much longer must we wait?'The Prime Minister has dithered and delayed over military spending ever since he came to power.Amid reports the Ministry of Defence's budget increase is to be less than originally thought, government departments are now engaged in pitiful sniping and in-fighting to avoid having their budgets cut to pay for it.The clear solution is to slash the preposterous £333billion annual welfare bill – but Labour's indolent ideology means they refuse to countenance such a move. The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has dithered and delayed over military spending ever since he came to powerOnly last week it emerged that Cabinet minister Pat McFadden had told Peter Mandelson that 'every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'.Latest figures reveal almost 200,000 households with annual incomes exceeding £100,000 receive the Personal Independence Payment, a benefit now shelled out to a record 3.9million people, with four out of ten claims for psychiatric complaints such as anxiety, depression and ADHD.Keir Starmer's failure to make a £5billion cut to welfare last year set the tone of his feeble premiership, and since then he has gone on to scrap the two-child benefit cap, at an estimated cost of £3billion a year.Labour continues to prop up the benefits system out of self-interest, blind to how the £8billion total cost of those two ignominious decisions could have – and should have – been redirected to the defence of the realm.The PM dozed as the Middle East burned, and looked the other way as our warships and submarines broke down, while dooming the country to spend billions more on questionable hand-outs.Distracted now by internal threats to his leadership, it is too late for Starmer to rectify his failures – and this betrayal of Britain's security is set to be his political epitaph.A lesson in humility Teachers enjoyed a four per cent pay rise in September, higher than the average award seen in the private sector.And yet the main teachers' union is encouraging its members to refuse tasks, such as marking children's work at weekends, which may disrupt their 'healthy work-life balance'.Teachers perform a vital, respected role.But before voting in the National Education Union's next strike ballot, set for this autumn, they should remember they benefit from 13 weeks' holiday a year and a (nominal) mid-afternoon home-time.Any truly unbiased analysis of their work patterns, as called for by their union, would surely have to take that into account.It would inevitably resurrect the kind of ideas floated by Michael Gove when he was the Conservatives' Education Secretary – a longer school day and shorter holidays.
