CND is calling on the government to stop wasting public money on its nuclear weapons black hole.

This comes after the latest spending report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) revealed the UK is now spending more on its nuclear weapons than Russia.

Collectively, the nine nuclear weapons states spent a record $119bn in 2025 on maintaining, modernising and expanding their nuclear arsenals. This was an increase of 19% ($16.8 billion) on the 2024 bill.

UK moves into nuclear weapons top three

The UK overtook Russia as the world’s third biggest spender, spending $12.6bn (£9.6bn), an increase of 17%.

This spending includes:

• Operating costs of Britain’s current four Vanguard nuclear-armed submarines.
• Building the replacement to Vanguard – the Dreadnought submarine.
• Maintenance of Britain’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
• Development of a new nuclear warhead, Project Astraea.

It doesn’t include the costs of the 12 F-35A nuclear-capable fighter jets the government announced it was purchasing in June 2025.

This shocking surge in nuclear spending comes as the government’s own Public Accounts Committee criticised the MoD for a lack of transparency over its ‘ever-increasing nuclear expenditure’.

Nuclear weapons spending is expected to rise to 20% of the total MoD budget for 2025–26, and increase to up to 25% in coming years.

According to ICAN, the top nuclear spender globally was again the US which spent $69.2bn. This was an increase of 22% from 2024 and totalled more than all the other nuclear weapons states combined.

China was second, spending $13.5bn, an increase of 7%. Behind the UK was Russia with an increase of 6% to $9.5bn. Of the others, France spent $7.7bn, India $2.8bn, Pakistan $1.5bn, Israel £1.2bn, and North Korea $656m.

The report also found that arms companies involved in the manufacture of UK weapons had sought to influence government policy. According to open access data cited in the report, senior government figures met with representatives of the following arms companies:

• Airbus.
• Amentum.
• Babcock International.
• BAE Systems.
• Bechtel.
• Boeing.
• General Dynamics.
• Honeywell International.
• Leidos.
• Leonardo.
• Lockheed Martin.
• Peraton.
• Rolls Royce.
• RTX (Raytheon).
• Safran.
• Thales.

The report noted that Airbus and BAE Systems, who had 44 and 35 meetings respectively, also included meetings with the prime minister’s office.

CND general secretary Sophie Bolt said:

This is a timely report that comes when the British government is planning to make savage cuts to public spending in order to fund more hikes to military spending. Britain’s nuclear weapons are a black hole, swallowing up even greater proportions of the Ministry of Defence’s already ballooning budget.

It is Britain’s replacement of its nuclear weapons system which is driving these huge nuclear weapons spending increases. This is contributing to a much more dangerous world where the threat of these world-ending weapons being used in war is the highest it has been since the Cold War.

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Far from keeping us safe, Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines are totally dependent on the US administration, which ties us even more closely to Trump’s reckless leadership that is dragging the world into more and more reckless wars that could go nuclear.

With the government’s upcoming Defence Investment Plan expected to give at least £15bn more to the military, it’s time to end the wasteful spending on war and nuclear weapons and redirect it into tackling the real security issues we face – from climate breakdown and the looming cost of living crisis.

Featured image via Andrew Linnett / MoD Crown Copyright via Getty Images

By The Canary

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The Mental Health Foundation has released The Foundation Reports: The state of mental health inequality in the UK, based on data following 40,000 individuals over 15 years.

The report found higher levels of poor mental health than recently reported in other datasets. One in four adults in the UK (25%) now experiences mental distress. That’s 14 million people. This has risen from 17% since the period immediately following the 2008 financial crisis. And that means an additional 4.8 million people now experience poor mental health just 16 years later.

The evaluation of the Understanding Society dataset involved examining data gathered from 2009 to 2024 to discover what is driving unequal levels of mental health across the country. The size and depth of the dataset allowed researchers to evaluate how these factors impacted different social groups. Across the fifteen years, people in financial distress experienced the greatest rise in poor mental health.

Mental health inequality

In the most recent data, more than half of people who were financially struggling (54%) experienced poor mental health, more than three times the rate of those who are financially comfortable (17%).

The gap between the poorest and richest people has increased by 50% the last 15 years. There was a 28.9 percentage point gap in 2009. But that’s risen to a 43.4 percentage point gap in the most recent data.

Women and young people were also found to have been disproportionately affected. Nearly one in three young people (31%) are now experiencing poor mental health. This compares with less than one in four (23%) people aged 25 and above. More than one in four women (28%) experienced poor mental health, compared to one in five (21%) men.

Mental health inequalities between these groups have also risen steeply since 2009. This is particularly notable for younger people, for whom there was no inequality in 2009, but who now experience a 7.5% higher rate of mental distress than older groups.

The Foundation Reports follows a Delphi process, conducted by the Mental Health Foundation, in which more than 40 experts in the field identified which factors drive unequal outcomes the most.

By combining the results of the Delphi process with the evaluation of Understanding Society data, The Foundation Reports’ authors found that previous governments’ austerity policies, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis have been the main factors driving the widening of mental health inequality.

Mark Rowland, chief executive at the Mental Health Foundation, said:

The Foundation Reports exposes how financial inequality has become intertwined with poor mental health in the UK. Almost 5 million more people are experiencing poor mental health than in 2009. It is people who are less well off, younger, or women who are hardest hit and paying the greatest price.

Clearly, decisions of successive UK governments have made mental health outcomes worse. Examples include austerity, the response to Covid-19, and failing to address the cost-of-living. These have contributed to record levels of poor mental health, particularly among vulnerable groups.

This is a UK-wide issue. We’ve found that financial inequality in the UK is the biggest driver of unequal mental health outcomes in all four nations. The UK and devolved governments’ failure to support those on lower incomes is one of the largest public health mistakes in decades. Policies have also disproportionately damaged women and younger people’s mental health.

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The announcement of a mental health plan for England provides a vital opportunity for government to turn the tide. To reduce mental health problems, all UK governments must prioritise tackling poverty and access to debt advice.

We need better support for people returning to work, and greater security for those who will never be able to do so. Governments must also support women and younger people through policies that address the specific challenges these groups face, like access to housing.

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By The Canary

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Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House team tasked with organising the 2026 World Cup, defended the US authorities’ decision to bar Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan and a number of administrative officials from the Iranian national team from entering the United States, stressing that these measures were taken for “very valid reasons”, according to AFP, reporting on a seminar organised by the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

The comments come at a time of growing questions regarding the security measures taken by the US in the days leading up to the start of the tournament, which it is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, particularly following the barring of Artan from entering the country despite holding a valid visa, and the refusal to grant visas to a number of officials accompanying the Iranian national team.

Why did the US bar the Somali referee from the World Cup?

Giuliani has reignited the controversy surrounding the case of Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, after he was detained at Miami airport for several hours before being returned to Turkey, thereby preventing him from officiating at World Cup matches.

The US official refused to disclose the specific reasons that led the authorities to take the decision, but he stressed that the ban was not a random measure.

He said:

There was a referee who was not allowed to enter. I cannot go into details, but what I can say is that it was for a very good reason.

He added that US authorities are balancing the hosting of a global event open to the public and sporting delegations with the need to uphold national security requirements.

He explained:

We are trying to strike a balance between welcoming everyone and ensuring that any malicious actors attempting to enter the country under the guise of the World Cup are unable to reach the United States.

Artan, who was named African Referee of the Year for 2025 and has officiated matches in major continental and international tournaments, was set to make his World Cup debut before being barred from entering the US.

Iranian officials denied entry to the US

On the Iranian front, Giuliani confirmed that all members of the Iranian national team’s coaching staff had been granted entry to the United States, whilst a number of administrative officials had been denied visas.

He said:

All members of the Iranian national team’s technical staff are allowed to enter. There are Iranian officials who cannot enter, and that is also for very valid reasons.

He noted that some people might identify themselves as part of sporting or technical delegations, whilst having links to other entities, adding:

As you can imagine, there are people who claim to be coaches, but they may not be.

He continued that some of the names subject to scrutiny may be directly linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, without providing further details or public evidence to support those claims.

Giuliani also revealed that 35 teams have so far managed to enter the United States without any players or coaches being barred from participating, emphasising that the bans were limited to a small number of officials and administrators.

These statements mark the first public justification by a senior US official for the decisions that sparked widespread controversy ahead of the biggest World Cup in history, at a time when US authorities continue to refrain from disclosing the detailed reasons behind the ban on the Somali referee and certain Iranian officials from entering the country.

Featured image via Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images

By Alaa Shamali

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The Green Party has opened up a staggering lead with 18-24 year olds according to one poll:

POLL | Greens lead with 18-24 year olds:

Grn: 35% (+17)
Lab: 19% (-22)
Ref: 17% (+8)
Con: 8% (-)
Lib: 7% (-9)
Your: 4% (+4)

(Source: @focaldataHQ)
—
+/- vs GE2024 data pic.twitter.com/L0LBqjcjGP

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) June 9, 2026

It’s almost as if they’re the only party which is acknowledging the issues young people face.

Meeting needs

The above isn’t the only poll to have shown the Greens leading with young people. This, from March, shows the party leading with everyone under the tender age of 65:

NEW | Greens lead with all voters under 65, reveals latest YouGov survey:

— 18-64s —
Grn: 26%
Ref: 20%
Lab: 17%
Con: 13%
Lib: 14%

— Over 65s —
Ref: 33%
Con: 26%
Lab: 15%
Lib: 14%
Grn: 6%

Poll: @YouGov, 1-2 March pic.twitter.com/Kaa1pBYBJ3

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— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) March 3, 2026

It’s not hard to see why.

Reform and the Tories mostly target retirees. This older generation is largely secure, having bought their houses at rock bottom prices. While that’s great for them, it does also make them more vulnerable to the message that ‘people are coming to steal what’s yours‘. Young people, meanwhile, can’t afford to buy their own homes, and as such they’ve nothing to conserve – excluding them from the conservative instincts of their grandparents.

Labour’s plan in government has been to pursue changes so marginal that no one even notices them. They’ve also completely abandoned young people on issues like the minimum wage:

Page 45 of Labours 2024 manifesto stated: "Labour will also remove the discriminatory age bands so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage"

Pat McFadden is asked, when are you going to do this?

McFadden says its not up to the govt to do it. pic.twitter.com/RSVJaZvf7x

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 31, 2026

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Under this Labour government, young people are facing an under-employment crisis (one which began with the Tories, to be fair).

As Politics UK reported:

– Mid- and lower-skilled jobs have fallen by around 1.6 million over the past 20 years

– Hospitality vacancies have nearly halved in the last 4 years

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– Apprenticeships for 16-24-year-olds have fallen by 35% since the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in 2017

– The proportion of 16-17-year-olds in paid work has nearly halved from 35% in 2006 to 19% today

– If every current inactive 18-24-year-old was in full-time work, this would contribute an additional £38 billion to UK GDP

– 58% of inactive young people (6 in 10) have never had a job

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And as we reported in turn:

As life has gotten more expensive in the UK, many young people are living at home for longer. This means fewer of them need to take the dead-end jobs that many of us accepted to ensure we could pay the rent. The knock-on effect is young people have less disposable income, and as a result they don’t go out, meaning fewer jobs in the hospitality sector. Increasing the minimum wage would better incentivise work, which would better drive economic activity.

So this is what the young can expect under Labour and the Tories:

• Live with your parents.
• Be in student debt for most of your working life.
• Struggle to get a job.
• Be blamed for everything wrong with the country.

In other words, it’s increasingly hard for young people to have hope for the future. And as such, it’s easy to see why the Greens are proving to be so popular.

Greens messaging

These are the sort of messages that Zack Polanski and the Green Party are putting out:

Rising rents, cost of further education, the climate crisis.

There's lots for young people to worry about.

Yet they have a plan & the determination to end Rip off Britain.

Join us: https://t.co/Q27Jy5eX7z pic.twitter.com/EBAKibIOu3

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) May 28, 2026

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"Austerity is a false economy. If you don't invest in young people, if you burden them with student debt rather than public investment, that's why we get the kind of problems we've got."

Zack Polanski on why investing in young people matters. pic.twitter.com/H7pqhJ1PhH

— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) February 19, 2026

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With the establishment parties implicitly arguing that ‘things can only get worse’, it’s easy to see why the Greens are cutting through.

Featured image via Jon Rowley (Getty Images)

By Willem Moore

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A 14-year-old activist stood up to an Israel supporter’s aggression during an assault in Montreal, Canada yesterday, 9 June 2026. The aggressor was a woman known as Sandra allegedly associated with white supremacist media. The Canadian government continues to support Israel’s genocide.

Embarrassment in Montreal

As the young man filmed the assault, the woman tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to grab his phone and intimidate him. Uncowed, he turned his attention to her companions, embarrassing one man enough to have him claim that he is “no bloody Zionist”:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by F̷R̷E̷E̷ P̷E̷O̷P̷L̷E̷ P̷O̷W̷E̷R̷ (@freepeoplepower)

One observer commented:

A Zionist woman named Sandra ATTACKED a 14 YEAR OLD activist in Montreal, Canada. A grown adult assaulting a CHILD, she definitely represents what Israel stands for.

Featured image via CityNewsMontreal

By Skwawkbox

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Howard Leigh, a Tory peer, has asked the House of Lords why it was stopping Israel’s occupation forces (IOF) from being able to “finish the job” in Lebanon.

Leigh, disgustingly, said:

The only successful way of dealing with, in effect, Iran in Lebanon through Hezbollah, is through military action. At what point do the British Government stop spending British taxpayers’ money helping the Lebanese Government, and, instead, allow the IDF to finish the job?

His words were so shockingly genocidal that even Starmer’s ally and Cabinet MP Jenny Chapman had to respond with how wrong Israel’s actions were:

With respect, I fundamentally disagree with the noble Lord. I wonder what he means by “finish the job”, given what we are seeing and the numbers of civilians who have been killed. Over three and a half thousand civilians, including children, have been killed indiscriminately. I could, perhaps, understand a targeted action. There would be questions about that too, but what we are seeing now is wrong.

Clearly, the genocidal Lord concluded the only remaining option was military action: letting the IOF finish the job, regardless of Lebanese sovereignty or civilian life.

Leigh is a staunch Israel ally and a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel. Earlier this year, he protested in the HoL about the suspension of some of the arms sales by the UK to Israel.

UK complicity in war crimes in Lebanon

The Anglo-American Zionists’ ethnic cleansing in Lebanon is an extension of their genocide in Gaza and their wider war on Iran. What began with the flattening of Gaza has now spread north: the same doctrine of collective punishment, the same destruction of civilian infrastructure, the same forced displacement dressed up as self-defence.

In Lebanon, more than 3,500 civilians have been killed, including over 240 children. More than one million people have been driven from their homes, over one in five of the entire population.

As British historian William Dalrymple has noted, Israeli leaders have openly stated they will demolish villages, prevent displaced people, mostly Shia, from ever returning, and create a permanent security zone inside Lebanese territory. Under international law, deliberately displacing a religious group and making their return impossible amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Dalrymple also called out Sky News’ blatant misrepresentation of ethnic cleansing in Lebanon as Israel “taking a stronger stance.”

British politicians still being neocolonialists

Labour Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed in the House of Commons that the UK is carrying out counterinsurgency by proxy.

Responding to Conservative MP Mark Pritchard, who had asked about engaging non-Hezbollah Shi’a political movements, Cooper said:

…we need an inclusive process in Lebanon that brings all groups and communities together but excludes Hezbollah, Iranian-backed proxies and terrorist and extremist groups. The group that he mentioned is led by Speaker Berri, who met my hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East as part of his recent visit. We will continue to engage with that movement and more widely with the Lebanese Government about the importance of bringing all communities together so that the Lebanese people are not exploited by Iran.

Hezbollah is a dangerous terrorist organisation. It is undermining the security of the people of Lebanon. We support the Lebanese Government and the Lebanese armed forces in taking action against Hezbollah. We are providing them with direct support, including funding and capabilities support, because we believe it is hugely important that they should be able to do this with international support.

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Essentially, Cooper is confirming that Britain will bankroll and train the Lebanese state to fight Hezbollah, while excluding Hezbollah from any political solution. She is embracing the Amal movement (led by Speaker Berri) as a preferred partner instead, and ignoring that this strategy risks tearing Lebanon apart along sectarian lines.

Leigh’s language might be shocking, but it is representative of the whole British imperial establishment, from politicians to the media, who are backing ethnic cleansing in Lebanon.

Featured image via Getty/Adri Salido

By The Canary

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Scotland looks set for an AI data centre crisis after plans were revealed detailing a massive number of data centres planned for construction on Scotland’s Central Belt.

ARPS, Scotland’s countryside charity, published an interactive map illustrating where the data centres are earmarked for.

The charity compiled the data over growing concerns about the impact of the data units on electricity prices, communities and the environment.

So far, at least 18 such data warehouse projects are seeking planning permission, the National reported, with a  further six in the pipeline.

ARPS is calling for the ­Scottish government to implement a moratorium on these centres until it does a “proper “assessment of the ­impacts on the electricity grid, ­climate emissions and communities”.

A spokesperson for the charity, Kat Jones, said:

Hyperscale data centres are some of the biggest buildings in the world and this is why we are seeing them being proposed mainly on greenbelt and Greenfield sites.

Their main requirements are large quantities of land and ­access to huge amounts of electricity and ­water. These buildings are huge, but the amount of energy they use is ­absolutely off the scale.

AI data centres: How might they impact you?

Kat Jones stated that the total demand for ­energy from the data centres in Scotland’s planning system is now 6,200 megawatts (MW).

Combined with the requirement for the six sites that haven’t completed all the ­planning stages yet, this would take the ­total to more than 11,000MW. That’s nearly three-times Scotland’s peak winter demand.

Jones didn’t hold back on stating the case clearly.

This is an inconceivable amount of energy that Scotland is being asked to divert to the use of hyperscale AI data centres, which will enrich a few billionaires in Silicon valley at the expense of the Scottish consumer.

No discussion on energy in ­Scotland can ignore the impact that these data centres would have on our electricity grid and energy prices.

We are calling for a moratorium to get some proper planning and ­policies in place.

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Campaigners are rightly concerned about rising energy prices. In the US, areas with data centres have soared up to 267% according to Bloomberg data.

Communities must be consulted

Scottish communities are rallying against plans near them and have been encouraged by a recent UN report.

The report details the environmental impacts of AI and says communities must be included in discussions about data centres.

AI-sceptic, pro-democracy campaign group, Pull the Plug, told the Canary:

Data centres have become a key issue in our political conversation. They contribute to climate change, impact the wellbeing of our communities, undermine public services, and push up household bills and our general cost of living.

The public increasingly stomachs the costs of data centres without agreeing to them. That has to change.

Scotland resists the Datageddon

Scottish people are not taking the matter lightly. Hyper-local campaigns are emerging across the nation to resist the ugly, thirsty, energy-hungry monstrosities. Remember when wind turbines were “eyesores”?

Last week, more than 200 people attended a public meeting to oppose a data centre near Auchtertool village in Fife. The community council said it was “appalled” by Fife Council’s decision not to request even an environmental impact assessment.

Another campaign has been launched to halt a similar development in the Borders. They’ll hope to achieve a similar result as that in Edinburgh earlier this year.

Edinburgh councillors voted unanimously to refuse a proposed hyperscale centre at the former Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters in South Gyle.

One spokesperson for Save the ­Lammermuirs – Stop the Data ­Centre said afterwards that worries remained about the ­environmental impact.

We weren’t able to get any solid information and there is also the question of the local benefits – the numbers didn’t really hold up under scrutiny at this stage.

Sunlaws Development Company wants to build the Southside Data Centre on land near the village of Longformacus. The planned development on Roxburghe Estate is for three large, two-storey data centre buildings, each with a height up to 24m and ground footprint circa 27,000m².

Campaigners allege that it will lead to the “industrialisation” of the Lammermuir Hills, and are ­sceptical of the job and economic benefit ­estimates. About 100 members of the public attended an initial consultation at Longformacus Village Hall this week.

The SNP is already criticising the “great renewables robbery” where Scottish energy firms are forced to pay £1 billion to access the national grid. Companies in England and Wales get paid to do so.

But this massive, anti-worker construction madness — done entirely on the SNP’s watch  — must be counted as further theft of the people’s energy needs by unaccountable tech companies.

Featured image via the National

By Cameron Baillie

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