Benn says ‘protecting nation’ is Labour’s ‘No 1 responsibility’ and that’s why defence spending is being hiked
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00:00Look, the first priority, the first responsibility of any government is to protect the nation.
00:06And as you know, you all know, we are living in a more dangerous and more uncertain world.
00:12And in those circumstances, it is right and proper for the government to increase defence expenditure, which we've done.
00:19We've taken a difficult decision as to how to fund that. It is the right thing to do to protect the nation.
00:25And some of that investment, of course, in respect of Ukraine, has come to Thales in Belfast.
00:31It's going to create an additional 200 jobs in recognition of the skill of that factory there and what they make.
00:37And that's part of our commitment to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian aggression when they invaded just over three years ago.
00:47At the same time, we're passionate about economic growth, because in the end, that is how we're going to see the lives of all of us improve.
00:55And the government having more money to spend on the things that we want.
00:58And don't forget that next week, 160,000 people in Northern Ireland are going to see their wages go up when the national living wage rises by 6.8%.
01:09And that is going to make a real difference to their lives.
01:11Cold comfort, I would say, Secretary of State, for those people on welfare payments, because they're only going to see money disappearing from their weekly intake.
01:18It depends on whether they can be helped to come back into work.
01:22If you compare the United Kingdom with other countries, the increase in welfare payments, disability benefits in the UK is out of line with other comparable countries.
01:35We've got one in eight of our young people not in education, work or training. One in eight.
01:42Now, that is the future potential of the nation.
01:45We can't sit here and shrug our shoulders and say, well, that's the way it is.
01:48We've got to do something about it.
01:49And the package that Liz put forward, it's taken some decisions that you've referred to.
01:54But at the same time, it said we're going to redirect some of those resources into helping people who can get back into work to make it easier to try things without being reassessed.
02:04You can't even convince your own MPs that's the right cause of accident.
02:07Well, in the end, people will debate it.
02:10But it's something that has to be done because most of the people I've spoken to recognise that the current system, A, doesn't work and is simply unsustainable.
02:19We've made a decision about defence expenditure to increase it by 2027 with an ambition to get up to 3% in the next parliament if economic conditions allow.
02:31For the reasons the Prime Minister set out very, very clearly when he made the statement to House of Commons.
02:36But don't forget the huge investment in the public sector that came from the budget last year.
02:44Huge increase, both for capital investment and also for public services.
02:49Why in England have we seen waiting lists fall five months in a row?
02:56The answer is because of the investment which the new government put in.
03:00So it's not right and it's not correct to say there's been a prioritisation of one over the other.
03:06Government is about making choices and balancing and competing priorities.
03:11But this is a government that is committed to investing in public services.
03:14It's also committed to ensuring the nation is protected because that is our number one responsibility as a government.