UK’s likely next leader Andy Burnham vows to fully fund defence plans
Andy Burnham says the UK must take the defence investment plan ‘very seriously’ despite 4.7bn-pound funding hole. The United Kingdom’s likely next prime minister says
Andy Burnham says the UK must take the defence investment plan ‘very seriously’ despite 4.7bn-pound funding hole. The United Kingdom’s likely next prime minister says he will take responsibility to find funds for a long-anticipated defence plan, days after a 4.7 billion pound ($6.2bn) funding gap came under public scrutiny. Speaking to LBC’s “Tonight with Andrew Marr” on Thursday, Andy Burnham said he “wasn’t in all of the discussions” regarding the defence investment plan, but that he views the plan as “something that the country has to face up to very seriously”. “What I can say to you tonight is I will take my responsibilities fully to fund the defence investment plan,” he said in comments reported by the UK’s Press Association news agency.
“If I am in the position to do so, I will take those responsibilities extremely seriously.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a 15 billion pound ($20bn) increase to the defence budget over the next four years – totalling nearly 300 billion pounds – as the UK seeks to modernise its armed forces. The UK is grappling with concerns about its depleted military capabilities amid fears that Russia could attack NATO member states in the coming years. But the source of nearly one-third of the plan’s committed increase is uncertain. Burnham, who is expected to replace Starmer later this month, said the UK needs to “build the resilience”.
“We’re in a changing world. The nature of the threat is changing,” he said. Addressing a key question facing the Labour government, Burnham also told LBC he would not make “crude cuts to benefit levels”. “I’m not going to go with the crude cuts to benefit levels that then just put people who are struggling in even worse poverty, and that often creates the backlash, and understandably so,” he said. Burnham said he would pursue a “different approach” over the long term, ranging from building more council homes to supporting young people to pursue non-university educational pathways. Starmer faced harsh criticism from inside the Labour Party last year over his signature plan to slim down the UK’s welfare system, which initially pitched raising the threshold for physical and mental disability benefits.
Still, Burnham said he broadly would “stick by the manifesto” and “promises” that UK voters welcomed with a landslide election in 2024. “But there is some room within that manifesto for movement on tax,” he added, noting the prospect of higher business taxes on warehouses and major developments, as well as lower rates for pubs.
The BriefWire