News / Military

‘Money for war, not to save lives’

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 5:26 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 11 February 2015 7:33 PM ]

Barack Obama and David Cameron walk at the White House on January 15, 2015. (AFP photo).

US President Barack Obama has warned David Cameron not to slash the UK defense budget.

Obama insisted to the British prime minister that a failure to hit the 2 per cent of GDP spending target would undermine the NATO.

The US president made the direct appeal during private meetings when the Prime Minister visited Washington back in January, The Telegraph reported.

Treasury is expected to cut £1 billion a year from the Ministry of Defense budget in an attempt to fill the country’s budget shortfall.

Obama has warned Cameron that “if Britain doesn't spend 2 per cent on defense, then no one in Europe will.”

Reports say the US has been piling pressure at a “high level.”

Now a London-based anti-war activist says maintaining defense budget is not fair as Britons live under tough austerity measures by the government.

“The fact that he is encouraging the UK to maintain spending while there are people in this country that are freezing to death in winter because they have to make a choice between whether they are going to feed themselves or they are going to heat their home. So, some up to heat themselves and some then freeze to death. We are talking about lots of pensioners who have worked their entire life, but, we are all being told that there is not enough money. So, apparently there is not enough money to save British people’s lives and be able to provide proper education and funding and so on and so forth, and we’ve got plenty of money for war and trident missile nuclear warheads…,” Kenneth O’Keefe told Press TV on Wednesday.

Britain is seen as a major partner in the US-led wars in recent years.

It is estimated that the UK spent nearly £30bn on the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That amounts to £1,000 for every British taxpayer.

£30bn would have paid for 1,464,000 more NHS nurses, 408,000 NHS consultants and 75% of the HS2 budget, the Independent said in a report published back in 2014.

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