As Rachel Reeves scrambles to fill the black hole her government has blown in the public finances, the knives are already being sharpened for cuts. And right in the firing line sit those who can least afford another betrayal — British veterans. Operation FORTITUDE, the flagship veterans’ housing scheme, is set to run dry by March 2026. It has been the only thing standing between hundreds of ex-servicemen and women and the streets — a rare example of government policy that actually worked. It provided nearly 900 housing units across the country and has kept more than a thousand veterans from sleeping rough. But now, in classic Westminster fashion, the funding is due to run out.
This government has its priorities upside down. For those breaking into Britain, the Treasury writes blank cheques. Billions are poured into hotel rooms, full-board meals, and welfare support for illegal arrivals. Yet for those who once wore the uniform — those who served, fought, and sacrificed for this country — the cupboard is bare. The very programme keeping a roof over their heads is being left to die quietly.
There’s nothing moral about spending over 330 times more on asylum accommodation than on space for British soldiers! Yet that is precisely the world we now live in — a Britain where the people who risked their lives for the Union Jack are treated as a financial inconvenience and tossed aside, while those who crossed the Channel illegally are treated as guests of honour.
At Advance UK, we support our veterans and would always ensure that every former service person would get the help and support they need. They deserve loyalty, respect, and permanent support, not budget-line neglect.
Every Remembrance Day, the political class will stand before the Cenotaph, heads bowed, poppies pinned to their tailored coats. They will speak of sacrifice and gratitude. They will tell us that Britain never forgets those who served.
But then, when the cameras are off, the funding stops, the promises dissolve, and the veterans they praise are quietly shoved to the back of the queue.
Charities on the front line are already warning of disaster. Organisations like Alabaré and Riverside — which between them provide hundreds of veteran bed spaces — say that without renewed funding, they’ll have to close homes for good. Not temporarily. Permanently. Once those doors shut, they will never reopen.
The scale of the betrayal cannot be overstated. This government inherited a working system — a functioning safety net for veterans who had nowhere else to turn. It didn’t need a new task force, or another glossy announcement, or a “strategic framework.”
It just needed stable funding. But instead of securing that, Labour has chosen to let uncertainty fester, leaving those who once served Britain wondering if they’ll soon be sleeping under bridges.
And to add insult to injury, even the basic bureaucratic barriers remain. Keir Starmer promised to scrap the absurd “local connection” rule that stops veterans from getting housing support outside their home area — a rule that effectively tells a veteran, “you’re on your own” if you’ve moved since leaving service.
A year later, that change still hasn’t been implemented in full. Veterans are still being told by councils that they don’t qualify for help because they’re in the wrong postcode.
This is what moral decay looks like in a supposedly civilised nation: veterans begging for clarity while illegal migrants check into luxury hotels at taxpayer expense. Ministers boasting about “fiscal discipline” while men who once fought for this country face eviction notices.
If Rachel Reeves wants to prove that her government stands for something more than soundbites and spreadsheet management, she can start here. She can guarantee continued funding for Operation FORTITUDE — not next year, not “subject to review,” but now.
Because the measure of a nation is how it honours those who stood in its defence. Britain’s veterans kept their side of the bargain. The least this government can do is keep its own.