The cost of butter and bread may be rising in Rotherham, but the stern words from Tokyo this morning should give us pause. Japan’s defence minister has issued a stark warning: the UK’s support for rearmament in Asia is not a matter of geopolitics but of survival. Without it, catastrophe beckons.
Speaking from the steps of the Ministry of Defence in London, Kishida Fumio’s top brass made it clear that the threat from an increasingly assertive China is not a distant worry for the chattering classes. It is a direct line to the price of fuel, the availability of goods on the high street, and the security of jobs in our factories. When supply chains are severed, it is the working family that feels the pinch first.
This is not about sabre-rattling. It is about ensuring that the international rules-based order, which has kept the peace and kept trade flowing since the war, does not unravel. The minister’s call for a “critical” rearmament effort, with UK support, is a recognition that the world has changed. The days when the North could rely on a steady stream of exports to the Far East are over if we do not act.
Union leaders in the shipbuilding yards of Barrow and the aerospace plants of Derby have been whispering for years that the next war will be fought over semiconductors and rare earths. Now the defence minister has said it out loud. We need to build, not just bullets, but the capacity to resist economic coercion. That means investing in skills, in apprenticeships, in the kind of high-tech manufacturing that can keep Britain’s head above water in a storm.
But there is a worry here. The government’s record on supporting industry is patchy at best. The Treasury still seems to think that hitting a fiscal target is more important than building a warship. The defence minister’s warning must not be ignored. If we are to rearm, we must do it properly, with proper funding for the people who will build the hardware.
The catastrophe the minister speaks of is not a drill. It is the slow erosion of living standards that comes when the world turns nasty. It is the closure of a steelworks because the price of imported ore has doubled. It is the loss of a shipbuilding contract to a state-subsidised rival. We have seen it before in the North. We cannot afford to see it again.
So let this be a call to action. Not just for the generals and the diplomats, but for the ministers in Whitehall who hold the purse strings. The defence of the realm is not a party political issue. It is about the future of our children and the security of our jobs. Japan has spoken. Now it is time for Britain to answer.
The cost of inaction is too high. The price of peace, as ever, is eternal vigilance. And a properly funded defence industry. That is the real economy. And it is critical.
