Burnham’s chancellor will have to find extra £4.7bn for defence, says minister
Andy Burnham’s government will need to find an extra £4.7bn to fund the defense investment plan announced by outgoing prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, a defense minister has said.
Luke Pollard told the BBC that the next chancellor “whoever it is” will need to “find the resources” in the autumn budget.
In one of his final acts as Prime Minister, Sir Keir announced that he would spend £15bn over the next four years to support the long-awaited plan to strengthen the UK’s defences.
But the Treasury said only £10.3bn of savings had now been identified; That means Burnham, who is widely expected to take over as prime minister on July 20, will need to find the resources to fill the gap.
Pollard told BBC Breakfast: “Just over £4bn will be allocated to the autumn budget.
“Of course, this is pretty standard fare for the government to make an announcement and lay out the details of the upcoming budget.
“The last government did this several times.”
If Burnham becomes Prime Minister, she is expected to replace Rachel Reeves as chancellor; Energy Minister Ed Miliband is one of the leading candidates to step into this critical role.
Pollard said Reeves had set aside more cash for emergencies and “shocks” in his Budget last November and that it would be “up to the next chancellor, whoever that is” to allocate both the space and resources in the budget this year.
He said he was a “big supporter” of Burnham and hoped to become prime minister, but also revealed the former Manchester mayor had only been informed of the £4.7bn defense funding shortfall on Tuesday.
“Downing Street has had a close dialogue with Andy’s team… I understand they kept him close to the process and told him that yesterday when the Treasury published the statement and breakdown of financial costs,” he told Sky News.
Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis said there needed to be “discussions” with the next prime minister about funding the armed forces, but insisted it was not “unreasonable” for those plans to be put forward at a “major financial event” such as the next Budget.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to missile manufacturer Cambridge Aerospace, Jarvis said: “We made really good progress with the publication of the plan yesterday and that was helpful because it ended the uncertainty around it.
“But yes, I’m going to want to do more and go further and that’s my job, working with the chiefs to make sure we secure the resource, make the investment we need in defense to deliver on the commitments we’ve made and I’m absolutely determined we will.”
Burnham has not yet commented on where he would find the extra money or whether he would be open to increasing the defense budget further.
An ally of Burnham told the BBC that funding shortfalls in Tuesday’s defense plan were “another spending pressure” she would have to face.
In a speech on Tuesday, Sir Keir said the defense investment plan (DIP), first expected last autumn, would reverse the “crushing drain” of the armed forces under the Conservatives.
