𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham is facing a £4.7 billion black hole in the plan to raise defence spending.

Sir Keir Starmer announced £15 billion of spending over the next four years to support the Defence Investment Plan, but the Treasury put off setting out full details of how it would fund the increase.

In a written statement to Parliament, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said only two-thirds of the sum – £10.3 billion – had been identified, while the remaining £4.7 billion would be “confirmed at Budget 2026, in a fair and balanced way”.