Andy Burnham is expected to become British prime minister, potentially as soon as July 17, as he prepares to assume leadership of the governing Labour Party. However, Burnham faces a £4.7 billion funding gap in the UK's defence investment plan, a situation he says the country must take very seriously.
To address the shortfall, Burnham will have to find additional resources through either higher taxes or deeper spending cuts. While Starmer has asked government departments to forgo 1% of their investment budgets, the UK will still fail to meet its pledge to allocate 3% of GDP to defense by 2030.
The funding gap has led to intense speculation in Westminster and prompted Luke Pollard to state that the next chancellor will have to find the resources to fund the defence plan. Simultaneously, Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis is facing questions over the funding hole and whether Burnham was blindsided by the deficit.