SOMETIMES members in the union say to me, “Fran — why is PCS commenting on Palestine or Iran or Ukraine? Focus on the members.”

I say this: “Because it’s the right thing to do so. Injustice has to be called out — whether that’s the crimes of Trump, Netanyahu, Putin or our own governments.”

And our members, delegates at PCS conference, have given us a democratic mandate by backing affiliation to the Stop the War Coalition, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign.

International affairs, whether it’s wars, climate change or famine, end up affecting us all. We cannot pretend there is not a wider world which we are inseparably a part of.

The impact of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and Trump’s attack on Iran have been felt by our members in higher inflation, increasing their costs and driving down their living standards.

And the current conflict in Iran is affecting government finances as well as our members’ finances. If government growth forecasts are downgraded, it is the revenue streams that fund our members’ jobs and pay our members’ wages that are affected.

So, yes, we focus on our members, but we recognise that wider political events hit our members and shape the context in which we can negotiate.

And right now the British government is talking about far-reaching cuts across government departments, from the NHS to transport, to fund a new drive for war, with the threat of Russia being talked up as justification.

There is no doubt that Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine was an aggressive act. But four years into that terrible conflict, Russia has failed to advance and become bogged down. The idea it can fight a war on several fronts, let alone come rampaging through Europe, is fanciful.

Britain already has higher military spending than every EU nation bar Germany. And as a share of GDP, our spend is higher than Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Military spending by Germany and Britain alone is higher than that of Putin’s Russia. The EU as a whole dwarfs Russian spending.

That is why the International Conference Against War is so important on June 20. We need to come together and make the case for social security, for our NHS, for education, not war.

Who wants to live in a country with shiny artillery sitting idle, while record numbers of families are homeless and millions of our children’s lives are scarred by poverty? NHS waiting lists mean access to vital healthcare is effectively rationed and social care remains a national disgrace.

The government has set out ambitious targets for new green homes and for new renewable energy infrastructure but instead, led by US corporations, it is prioritising investment in more military spending and environmentally damaging AI data centres.

PCS has been proud to support the Stop the War Coalition from the very beginning.

And we have been proven right time and time again. Whether it was disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq under Blair; the Libya conflict under David Cameron; or today’s attack on Iran.

We have also been proud to march with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Stop the War against the war and genocide in Gaza, and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.

And we’ve been right to defend the right to protest, standing in solidarity with Chris Nineham and Ben Jamal at their recent court hearings — and we will continue to do so.

Despite disgraceful misrepresentations, these pro-Palestine marches have been vibrant multicultural displays of solidarity, with hundreds or thousands of Jewish people marching alongside Christians, Muslims and those of no religion.

Our argument is not with the Jewish community in Britain or anywhere else — and there is no place for antisemitism in our movement.

Our argument is with the government in Israel. And with our own government here in Britain, which has armed the genocide and failed to put sanctions on Israel, like it rightly has against Putin’s Russia.

Last year, I was proud to speak at the International Paris Conference Against War, at an arena filled with thousands of people from across Europe, committed to building a more peaceful world; and I will be speaking at the London Peace Conference on Saturday June 20.

This past year I have visited Colombia as part of a Justice for Colombia delegation, building links with public-sector unions there. Trade unionists have faced repression on a scale we can thankfully only imagine.

The political class have got it wrong time after time, but the people in Britain and around the world have been proved right to oppose war, and to stand in solidarity with those under attack — and PCS will continue to do so.

Let’s continue to be a movement for peace and social justice.

The Stop the War International Conference takes place at Central Hall Westminster, Storey’s Gate, London SW1H 9NH on Saturday June 20. For more information and to book tickets visit stopwar.org.uk.