𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Kemi Badenoch accused Andy Burnham of putting the Falklands in danger with his “weak” approach to defence. Claiming that the UK’s enemies saw the Prime Minister as a soft touch, Mrs Badenoch said: “They smell weakness.”

The Conservative leader was questioning Mr Burnham during PMQs in Parliament. She asked about plans to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and to lease back a military base in Diego Garcia, saying it would cost British taxpayers £35billion. And she said that Argentina had seen this deal and felt encouraged to claim the Falkland Islands.

Mrs Badenoch said: “The truth is, he doesn’t know where he is going to fund the money from. He is talking about anything except defence, council housing … he won’t fund the military.”

But she claimed that while the Labour Government was failing to fund defence, it was willing to pay the cost of the Chagos deal.

“That is British sovereign territory,” she said. “This is a weak decision, and it is no wonder Argentina is now threatening the Falklands.”

Mrs Badenoch said: “So why, just like Keir Starmer, is he planning on surrendering the Chagos Islands?”

She later said defence funding was cut in the first year of the Labour Government. “Last year, defence funding fell in real terms. That is on them. So why is he choosing to send £35billion to Mauritius when they cut the money to train our troops?”

But Mr Burnham hit back, saying: “She does have to do better than that.

“We are not going to surrender our base at Diego Garcia. We are in discussions with the US about that.”

And Mr Burnham said the UK would “never” give up the right of the Falkland Island residents to be British.

“We will be relentless in defending that,” he said.