Recent government data reveals a significant increase in welfare payments to households with at least one foreign national, reaching £941 million in March 2025, nearly doubling from £461 million in March 2022.
This surge now accounts for 15.5% of the total monthly Universal Credit spending.
The rise in claims has prompted discussions about the sustainability of the UK’s welfare system and its capacity to support both native
The current system may inadvertently incentivise migration by offering generous benefits, potentially straining public resources. Neil O’Brien, a former Tory health minister, highlighted concerns over the rapid growth of benefit spending and migration rates, suggesting that the government’s approach may be too lenient.
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The surge in channel crossings
In the first half of 2025, the UK witnessed a significant increase in migrants crossing the English Channel, with over 14,800 individuals arriving by late May—a 42% rise compared to the same period in 2024.
Smuggling gangs have adapted new tactics by using larger boats, some carrying over 80 people, and launching from inland waterways to evade French police intervention.
The UK has invested £480 million to bolster French beach patrols, yet interception rates have declined, raising concerns about the effectiveness of current strategies.
Upon arrival, asylum seekers in the UK are entitled to basic support while their claims are processed.
This includes accommodation and a weekly allowance of £45 per person, or £9.10 if meals are provided.
Additional support is available for pregnant women and young children. However, asylum seekers are not permitted to work and have no access to mainstream benefits like Universal Credit unless granted refugee status.
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Defense and border control expenditures
The UK has invested heavily in bolstering border security, including a £480 million agreement with France to enhance beach patrols and curb Channel crossings.
Despite this, interception rates have declined, with French authorities intercepting only 184 out of 1,378 migrants attempting to cross on a single day in May 2025.
The UK Coastguard has also been overwhelmed by migrant rescue operations, highlighting the strain on border control resources .
Meanwhile, in response to the increasing number of Channel crossings, UK ministers are drafting new legislation to fast-track the removal of asylum seekers arriving from countries deemed “safe.”
The aim is to prevent prolonged stays in the asylum system for individuals from such countries. However, critics argue that deeming countries safe doesn’t account for individual persecution cases, emphasising the need for fair case-by-case evaluations .
The strategic defence review
The UK’s newly released Strategic Defence Review (SDR) reads more like a vision board than a battle plan. Full of buzzwords like “step change” and lofty claims about being at the “leading edge” of NATO innovation, it offers little substance on how Britain will actually defend its citizens in a rapidly deteriorating global climate.
In fact, Prime Minister Starmer’s assertion that Britain will lead in technology and tactics rings hollow when compared to the firepower and innovation of the United States, which dominates with its Silicon Valley networks and orbital infrastructure.
There is an alarming disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality. While Ukrainian soldiers face real bullets and missile strikes, the British government has spent the past year penning platitudes. A war is raging in Europe’s backyard, and yet Westminster seems more focused on reshaping internal committees than reinforcing its crumbling military readiness.
Scripture warns:
1 Corinthians 14:8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
Delay, deflect, decline
The review’s few tangible promises are scattered and deferred. The idea of increasing soldier numbers “in the next parliament” puts any meaningful growth off until at least 2029.
Sir Starmer’s commitment to raising defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 is presented as bold—but it is dwarfed by both the needs of our military and the spending of our allies. His “ambition” to hit 3% is just that: ambition, not policy.
When defence minister John Healey talks about measuring arms innovation in “months not years,” he undermines himself by tying future growth to legislative cycles and parliamentary vagueness. The disconnect between urgency and action exposes the lack of conviction at the heart of this government.
They speak of “warfighting” as if saying the word enough times will conjure the readiness they have long neglected.
Jesus in Matthew 7:16 By their fruits ye shall know them.
It is not what a government says about defence, but what it does. And so far, what we see is procrastination in the face of growing peril.
The hollowed-out arsenal
Britain’s armed forces are not just underfunded—they are under-equipped, undermanned, and under-valued. The British Army has dwindled to just over 70,000 soldiers, its lowest number in 300 years.
Meanwhile, over 64,000 civil servants occupy positions in the Ministry of Defence. It’s as if the government believes paperwork can win a war.
Our naval defences fare no better. The ageing Vanguard-class submarines, vital to our nuclear deterrent, are creaking towards obsolescence.
A nation that neglects its defences, while evil advances, is one that has forgotten its duty before God.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
Diversity over defence
One would expect our Royal Air Force (RAF) to be at the forefront of protecting British skies. Instead, reports suggest that its leadership has prioritised “diversity targets” over defence capability. In fact, internal policies have even skirted legality in the pursuit of inclusion metrics. The RAF has become a case study in how ideology, not mission, is driving decisions.
There’s a place for fairness and opportunity in every institution. But when those principles overshadow the very purpose of a military service—national defence—then we have strayed. It appears the real battle being fought by the RAF is not in the skies, but in boardrooms dominated by HR language and political virtue-signalling.
2 Timothy 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
A nation unready for evil days
While Russia tests hypersonic missiles, uses Iranian drones, and receives covert support from China and North Korea, the UK tinkers with its defence spreadsheets. Cyber-attacks on hospitals, and sabotage of undersea infrastructure are already happening. And still, the SDR speaks in vague tones, disconnected from the gathering storm.
There is little mention in the review of the growing threat posed by hostile foreign powers operating through covert and hybrid means.
Our adversaries are not waiting for Britain to catch up. They are already at work, infiltrating, undermining, and preparing. It is folly to meet calculated aggression with committee-based complacency.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
Pray
PRAY: Pray for our leaders.
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