A defence minister has confirmed that Andy Burnham’s future administration will need to secure an additional £4.7bn to support the military investment plan introduced by outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Luke Pollard, speaking to the BBC, indicated that the next chancellor will be responsible for locating these funds in the upcoming autumn Budget.
Sir Keir recently unveiled a £15bn spending initiative intended to revitalize the UK’s armed forces over four years. However, the Treasury has only identified £10.3bn in available savings, leaving a significant deficit. Burnham, who is widely projected to assume the premiership on 20 July, was only informed of this shortfall on Tuesday.
Pollard remarked that it is standard procedure for the government to finalize funding details during the budget process. While the outgoing PM plans to offset these costs by reducing other departmental budgets by 1%—specifically impacting transport and energy projects—no additional borrowing will be utilized. These changes aim to move national defence spending toward 2.7% of GDP by 2030, with further objectives set for 2035 to meet Nato requirements.
