The defence spending black hole facing Andy Burnham has tripled to £15 billion after Downing Street admitted it had not yet identified the cuts needed to fund Starmer’s plans. The Telegraph has the story.
On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer pledged an additional £15 billion to boost defence spending over four years, in a long-awaited announcement.
It later emerged that £4.7 billion would not be confirmed until the Budget, expected in October, leaving Burnham, Sir Keir’s presumed successor, with the challenge of coming up with the funds.
But on Wednesday, No. 10 could not explain where the other £10.3 billion, which is supposed to be made up by departmental savings, would come from.
It means Burnham will have to decide where the axe will fall and announce a series of unpopular spending reductions, just months after he takes over as Prime Minister.
James Cartlidge, the Shadow Defence Secretary, said Labour’s defence investment plan (DIP) had “completely unravelled barely a day after it was published”.
“The increase in spending is far too little, the capability promised comes far too late, and now we learn that they don’t even know how to fund it.”
He added: “Keir Starmer is kicking the can down the road for his successor because he has failed to take the tough decisions needed to keep the country safe.”
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, said that Government departments had agreed to save £10.3 billion between them to pay for the DIP.
However, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said on Wednesday that details of the actual cuts would not be announced until the autumn, by which time Burnham would be in No. 10.
Instead of a raft of spending cuts, the Government could raise tax revenue by lifting the ban on oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
However, that is likely to be opposed by Ed Miliband, the front-runner to succeed Reeves as Chancellor.
Worth reading in full.
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Keeping the country safe, whatever that means, can be simply achieved by diplomacy if we had anyone capable of not shouting at those we need to talk with. Start off by sacking anyone who believes in British exceptionalism. And learn to live with our neighbours and stop funding unnecessary wars.
I suspect the Tories sneaked in during the night and tripled it.
Apparently the Government in Office for the last two years bears no responsibility for anything, the previous one does.
So… I’ll ask again: how is it we get such poor outcomes from the money that we pour into defence, welfare, education, the NHS and everything else?
Just giving everything more, particularly when we haven’t got it to give, seems lazy and short-term.
And, it’s pretty clearly a ‘government’ problem, generally, it’s just even worse with Labour.
It’s very easy to spend. It’s far from easy to spend well if you don’t know some basics. How many people in Parliament know the daily cost of a tradesman such as a spark, a plumber, joiner ? Yet these people are responsible for billion pound contracts. Is it any wonder they rocket out of control?
The problem with setting targets for any government spending is that by and large they are easy to hit except for the criminally stupid. It’s called creative accounting.
Having seen the inside of defence spending I could share some absolute crackers. To save me pulling up a sandbag, put it this way: If such contracts had been signed by some admin bod in the private sector, they’d be out on their arse the next day.
MPs bickering amongst themselves about which of them screwed it up first. Soooo tiresome and predictable.
MPs of all colours – you’re all GUILTY.
The criminal undermining of our National Defence capabilities in men and materiel is now looking like deliberate planning and not incompetence. The contories are also hugely responsible for this disastrous state of affairs because although Kneel has acted like a child with hyperactivity disorder in a china shop these last two years he simply hasn’t the competence to be this malignant and wilfully destructive of his own volition. The contories prepared the ground in the previous fourteen years. The conclusion is clear, we are being left deliberately naked prior to a battle that we cannot win.
Who will be our “saviour”, I wonder…?
Starmer too bought and sold by the chicoms.
Hence mandelson, embassy, chagos shitshows.
Indeed.
Materiel
Thank you, someone who knows the difference.
You’re welcome M A k.
I pray every day to His Noodliness the Flying Spaghetti Monster to spare us Milliband as Chancellor. It would be a disaster if it were to come about.
Meanwhile, I pray that someone can find a photo of him with Epstein. That seems to be the most effective way of getting these people off our backs.
The chinese government takeover would be complete.