UK Politics
‘No One Has Had to Fight a War Since’: Nandy Ties Remembrance Sunday to Labour’s £570m EU Deal
Lisa Nandy linked Remembrance Sunday to Labour’s £570m Erasmus+ return, saying no one has had to fight a war since. MoD figures show 7,193 have died.
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Should Lisa Nandy apologise for linking Remembrance Sunday to Labour’s EU deal?
News | By Matt, Editor
Korea. Malaya. Aden. Northern Ireland. The Falklands. Iraq. Afghanistan. On the morning the country stood in silence for its war dead, the Culture Secretary put out a statement saying the men and women who served had “forged a path for friendship and cooperation that meant no one in our country has had to fight a war since”.
Lisa Nandy’s words came in a press release that tied Remembrance Sunday to Labour’s return to the EU’s Erasmus+ exchange scheme, which the government’s own figures say will cost about £570 million for 2027 alone. Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick answered with a number: 7,193. It is the Ministry of Defence’s own count of British service personnel who have died on operations since the Second World War.
Key facts
- Ms Nandy’s statement was released by her department ahead of the service at the Cenotaph. It said: “As we remember the immense courage of those who served our country, we honour them by building the best opportunities for the next generation through closeness and collaboration with our allies.”
- Britain rejoins Erasmus+ in January 2027. The government puts the UK contribution for 2027 at approximately £570 million, after what it calls a 30% discount.
- Up to £400 million will go through the British Council to schools, colleges, youth groups and sports teams. The Turing Scheme, set up after Brexit, has been scrapped.
- Ministry of Defence statistics put the number of UK armed forces personnel who have died as a result of operations since 1945 at 7,193. That includes 1,129 in Korea, 1,441 in Northern Ireland, 237 in the Falklands and 457 in Afghanistan.
- Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake told Ms Nandy to withdraw the release and apologise. On Sunday morning she told Sky News she would “strongly, strongly disagree” with him.
What she said
Here is the passage in full, as reported by GB News and The Independent. “This Remembrance Sunday, we come together to reflect and honour the sacrifices that our Armed Forces made in the First and Second World Wars, and continue to make today,” Ms Nandy said. “It is our duty to ensure that the immense courage of those who have served our country is never forgotten. They went to war to give us 80 years of peace.”
4 commentsTap to readShe went on: “We are about to raise the first generation for whom fighting a war really is part of history. Our future generations must know the significance of those who served in our national story, that they forged a path for friendship and cooperation that meant no one in our country has had to fight a war since.”
Then came the Brussels part. “In that spirit, this Government is building stronger, better ties with our EU neighbours. After six years away, the UK rejoining the Erasmus Plus programme is a clear symbol of our ambition and intent.”
Her department went further. According to The Telegraph, the release said Ms Nandy “believes that we owe it to our brave veterans to repair these relationships with our friends in Europe”. The Daily Mail quotes it saying Erasmus+ will help young people “build the strong links with Europe that veterans’ service helped to secure and endure after the Second World War”.
In fairness, the statement does mention sacrifices the armed forces “continue to make today”. But it never names a later war, and it talks about “80 years of peace”. Eighty years takes you back to 1945.
The 7,193
Jenrick posted late on Saturday night. “On Remembrance Sunday Lisa Nandy has claimed that no one in Britain has had to fight a war since WW2,” he wrote. “What about the 7,193 British soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in conflicts ranging from the Korean War to Afghanistan? While she erases their service, the country will never forget their bravery.”
He added that he thinks reopening the Brexit wars is “a colossal waste of energy”, and that whatever the merits, “this is not the day for it”. His post had been liked more than 4,800 times by Sunday morning. His figure matches the MoD’s published total.
Hollinrake made the same point with names. “Tell that to the veterans of Korea, the Falklands, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, and to the families of the hundreds who never came home,” he said, according to the Mail.
“Tone deaf and frankly shameful”
“Remembrance Sunday is a day for the nation to stand together in silence and honour those who gave everything for our country,” Hollinrake said. “It is not a day for a Labour minister to try to make an EU membership pitch. Our veterans did not fight for a student exchange scheme. Using their sacrifice to clear a £570 million cheque to Brussels is tone deaf and frankly shameful. Lisa Nandy should withdraw this release and apologise.”
Nigel Farage put the blame higher up. Andy Burnham is Prime Minister, and Farage said it was his deal being sold.
Col Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan, told The Telegraph: “On Remembrance Sunday, it is not about Erasmus or anything like that. It is all about remembering and commemorating the people who made the supreme sacrifice.” Peter Sharples, chief executive of the Veterans Institute, told the same paper: “Brexit has had no relevance to the veterans sector. We are still part of Nato. We’re not going to win any wars by being in Erasmus.” Retired Maj Gen Timothy Cross accused her of “political point scoring”, GB News reported.
No apology
Ms Nandy was asked about it on Sky News on Sunday morning. She said she would “strongly, strongly disagree” with Hollinrake. “It’s Remembrance Sunday, it’s not a time for politicking, and I’m actually quite horrified that the chairman of the Conservative Party has chosen to do that,” she said, Metro reports. “They are the only party that is talking about Brexit and the European Union today.”
She added: “I cannot see what is political about saying we want young people from every part of this country to understand the contribution that their grandparents and great-grandparents made.”
She also appeared to suggest she is against rejoining the EU. Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham reported that she said Britons do not want to “relitigate endless conversations about in or out”. At the time of writing the release has not been withdrawn and there has been no apology.
What Erasmus will cost
The government’s own announcement last December said the UK contribution for 2027 “will be approximately £570 million”, covering the 2027/28 academic year. Anything after that has to be negotiated again. Ministers say the 30% discount saves taxpayers around £240 million, and that more than 100,000 people could take part in the first year.
The BBC reports that the scheme will let young people study, train or get work experience in the EU. The British Council will run it here, with more than £30 million set aside for areas where few young people have taken part before.
Our view
Nobody begrudges an apprentice from Wigan a placement in Germany. That isn’t the argument. Remembrance Sunday belongs to the people it is named after and to the families they left behind. It’s the one morning of the year the country manages to put politics down. A government department picked that morning to sell a £570 million policy, and the minister signed off a line that left out everyone who has served and died since 1945.
She has had a whole morning to say sorry. Instead she says she’s horrified by the people who noticed. The names on the Basra wall at the National Memorial Arboretum, and the 457 who died in Afghanistan, deserved better than to be a press hook for Brussels.
Should Lisa Nandy apologise for linking Remembrance Sunday to Labour’s EU deal? Vote in our poll below.
Sources
- GB News, 8 November 2026: Nandy statement, Jenrick, Hollinrake, Kemp, Cross
- Metro, 8 November 2026: Nandy’s Sky News response, Hollinrake quotes
- The Telegraph, 7 November 2026: department release, Kemp, Sharples
- Daily Mail; BBC News; The Independent; Alex Wickham (Bloomberg) on X, 8 November 2026
- GOV.UK, 17 December 2025: Erasmus+ terms and the £570 million 2027 contribution
- Ministry of Defence: UK armed forces operational deaths post World War 2: 7,193 deaths and theatre breakdown
Main image: Lisa Nandy at the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, 10 November 2024. Number 10 / Wikimedia Commons, OGL v3. Social images also use photos from Lauren Hurley / No 10 (OGL v3), DCMS (CC0), MOD (OGL), House of Commons (CC BY 3.0), Harry Mitchell (CC BY 4.0) and OHarrison67 (CC0).
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Have your say
no one has had to fight a war since. MoD figures show 7,193 have died. what a stupid liebour clown she is
Hypocrites the lot of em, except Nigel Farage who has actually taken time out to visit the memorials in Europe doing a 40 minute video of History, a true patriot, now what we need is a remembrance History month and include remembrance day within that month, instruct all schools to be involved
Usual ignorant remarks from Labour MPs that show how inept they are at every turn. Saying we have fought in no wars since 1945 shows how uneducated this stupid woman is. Maybe she should talk to a few of our ex servicemen who are still suffering as a result of fighting in these none wars.
Your reaction
How that ‘mayor-of-Manchester’ had the nerve to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph, in remembrance of those who gave their lives to keep this country free, when all the time he’s trying to give it away, is beyond belief ! And now they try to use the essence of event to further their Globalist aims ?
He – and the rest of those Socialist parasites – are a DISGRACE to this country !