UK’s likely next leader Andy Burnham vows to fully fund defence plans
Key takeaways
- Andy Burnham says the UK must take the defence investment plan ‘very seriously’ despite 4.7bn-pound funding hole.
- xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Andy Burnham, British member of parliament for Makerfield, arrives for a radio interview on LBC's "Tonight with Andrew Marr", in London, Britain, July 2, 2026.
- 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.
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Andy Burnham says the UK must take the defence investment plan ‘very seriously’ despite 4.7bn-pound funding hole.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Andy Burnham, British member of parliament for Makerfield, arrives for a radio interview on LBC's "Tonight with Andrew Marr", in London, Britain, July 2, 2026. [Isabel Infantes/Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff Published On 2 Jul 20262 Jul 2026The 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”.