Burnham blindsided as Starmer hands him £4.7bn 'hole' in war plan

Keir Starmer has risked a major row with his successor after it emerged Andy Burnham did not know the full details of a £4.7bn hole in funding for the UK’s plan for war, The i Paper can reveal.

The Prime Minister said the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP) represented his Government’s “best judgement” of what the country needs to equip the military for potential armed conflict with Russia by 2030.

But Burnham, who is expected to enter Downing Street in three weeks, will inherit the task of finding £4.7bn in savings or cuts to pay for the new defence plan, after Rachel Reeves left almost a third of the £15bn package unfunded until the Budget this autumn.

Caroline’s mother Christine has called for an apology from the press and police over how she was treated before she died.

She made a documentary called Search for the Truth for Disney+ last year

Caroline Flack’s death has become a tragic parable about cancel culture, responsible use of social media, the intrusion of the tabloid press, the sensation of reality TV and the misunderstandings and stigmas about mental ill health, from which we were all supposed to learn and in which each of us who watched on as voyeurs was complicit. 

The summer’s first full Moon is lighting up skies across the country this week.

To see the Stawberry Moon, look towards the south-east after sunset. That will be after around 9.20pm on Tuesday, 30 June. The moon will track southwards through the night, setting in the south-west before sunrise on Wednesday.

Angry people on social media claim the current high temperatures are nothing special but they ignore the long-term trends

Millions of Britons could pay higher energy bills than they need to if they do not submit a meter reading before the price cap rises on Wednesday.

The price cap, set by the regulator Ofcom, is set to rise, affecting 5.3 million households on a standard tariff.

How much the price cap will increase from Wednesday, 1 July.

The average gas and electricity bill will jump to £1,862 a year.

There are currently 27 fixed deals available that are cheaper than July’s price cap, with average savings of £285, so act now to save yourself money.  The price cap is going up, but your bills don’t have to.

People are future-proofing their homes for sustainability and to protect themselves against unpredictable energy costs

People who have a strong chest and back may be less likely to have a heart attack, according to a new study.

Researchers said that people with strong pecs, back muscles and torso are also less likely to die within the next decade.

Experts from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said that it is “not just about being muscly”, as the size of people’s muscles was not linked to their risk of a heart attack or early death.

It said that all kinds of exercise, and not just strength training, can improve muscle density.

It is fascinating that people’s skeletal muscle could be linked to their risk of having a heart attack. I am now personally interested in exercises like cycling, planks and pilates, which I enjoy and may have an effect on these muscles.

What are the things that you do to keep yourself healthy? Your mind might jump straight to the run you do a couple of times a week, or the choices you make about what to eat, the amount of sleep you manage to get each night or the friends who make you feel seen and heard. And you’d be right. These are all things that keep us healthy.

But staff say many people treat their shops like a tip.

Here they share the most useful donations they get, and the
ones that drive them mad.

The quality of donations over the last year has diminished.

Claire Stockman, head of retail for St
Luke’s Hospice [pictured], says many donations include used items from fast fashion like Boohoo and Primark, which they cannot sell for more than £2, if at all.

of what comes into St Luke’s Hospice is unsellable, Stockman says.

She adds its soiled, damaged beyond
repair or smelly.

Harriet, a volunteer at Crisis in Dalston,
says people bring in clothes that are dirty and stained – things that they cannot sell
on Vinted.

She also sees dirty kitchenware and technology that no longer works.

There was a box donated after someone’s family had passed and in it were all these medals. I researched them and the whole collection ended up going for £2,340…

A good donation is anything new with tags on, anything that hasn’t been opened, or higher quality items.

Items that have been well looked after are more likely to sell and generate a better price for charity too.

Harriet adds that knick-knacks and wine glasses are surprise hits in her branch.

Here, psychologists, career consultants and sleep experts give their best advice on how
to beat the gloom that the
work week is looming…

Pave the way on Friday

Psychologist Maria-Teresa Daher-Cusack says to wrap up tasks and not to leave big or difficult things for Monday. And write a to-do list for the next week so you know what to expect when you return after the weekend.

Get outside early

Doctor Naheed Ali says getting out on a Sunday morning – not sleeping late – helps regulate the circadian rhythm that can become skewed over the weekend.

On Sunday spend time away from technology to allow yourself a personal reset away from doom scrolling.

Put yourself in the best position to rest by avoiding large meals, screens and caffeine.

If possible don’t stack your Mondays with high-pressure tasks.

Don’t just save joyful things for the weekend. On lunch breaks, try to do something you enjoy.

If the Sunday scaries are constant, listen to them. If every Sunday fills you with dread and nothing seems to quell it it’s worth asking if it’s the job, the culture or the career itself. No one should spend half their weekend bracing for impact… ” says Victoria McLean

But no country’s energy system is 100 per cent secure and large-scale blackouts, although rare, are possible.

Here’s how to prepare, and what could happen, if we do have a blackout.

If the UK’s power went down tomorrow, these are the ways it is likely to impact you first.

For EV owners that are already on the road, Professor Keith Bell, who works in electricity planning, recommends that those with an EV with reasonable charge use it as a generator, like your own store of electricity.

In the case of the power system going down, petrol isn’t a totally safe option as queues at petrol stations could be huge and places are likely to run out of fuel.

The longer the power takes to return the worse things are likely to get. In 2021 Storm Arwen physically damaged power lines across the UK.

During the 1977 New York blackout, which lasted 25 hours, there was civil unrest, resulting in widespread looting and arson, although intense heatwaves are thought to have exacerbated the situation.

To get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, but in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.

A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended.

The Government recommends opting for torches over candles, for safety reasons.

Using screens in a way that benefits your child’s development is key and balancing educational content and entertainment with offline activities ensures a well-rounded routine.

For younger children, try scavenger hunts, garden games and nature walks. For older ones, hikes
and biking trips.

Designated screen-free times helps children develop a routine that balances screen use with other activities.

It’s an excellent way
to bond and develop critical thinking skills.

Getting creative, through drawing, painting or model construction, enhances cognitive skills and offers an alternative to screens.

Arrange playdates or group activities with friends, or for older kids try an overnight camping trip in the garden.

Showing that you value offline time encourages your children to do the same.

Implement a reward system where screen time is earned through positive behaviour. 

Discuss the importance of balancing screen time with your children so they understand the reasons behind the rules.

The blueprint for defence will cost an extra £15bn and will be paid for in part by a 1 per cent cut to all Whitehall departments’ capital budgets – including a controversial shelving of major road and energy projects that had been pledged by Starmer’s Government, which sparked anger from local Labour MPs and mayors.

But in a written statement following the publication of the DIP, Reeves revealed that while £10.3bn to fund the DIP has been “identified now”, the remaining £4.7bn “will be confirmed at Budget 2026, in a fair and balanced way”.

This means that Burnham’s new chancellor, assuming he replaces Reeves if he becomes prime minister, will have to make £4.7bn of cuts in the first Budget of the new administration, or, at the risk of breaking the current Government’s fiscal rules, find the extra spending through borrowing.

The parting gift from Starmer and Reeves would appear to undermine Burnham’s optimistic agenda, set out on Monday, reinvigorating the UK’s regions, communities and industries and what he called a “regeneration of places”.

Burnham will become prime minister on Monday 20 July, if he is unopposed for the Labour leadership, and Treasury sources said that he had been kept informed about the broad thrust of the DIP. He is expected to replace Reeves as Chancellor, but has committed to the current fiscal rules to bring borrowing down.

But when asked whether Burnham knew about the specific cuts to road and energy projects, or whether he was aware that his first Budget would need to find a further £4.7bn to fund the DIP, a source close to the Labour MP for Makerfield said he did not see all the details of the plan.

Burnham does however accept that the DIP has now been settled, The i Paper understands.

The prospect of cuts to road projects sparked anger among Labour politicians.

Hamish Falconer, a Foreign Office minister and Labour MP for Lincoln, issued an appeal to the incoming prime minister to look again at funding plans for a bypass in his region.

Falconer wrote on X: “I am disappointed by the uncertainty today about the A46 Newark Bypass widening scheme.

“I support further funding for the DIP, but the A46 upgrade programme is well advanced, long awaited, excellent value for money and of strategic importance to both Lincoln and the region.

“Following the Labour Party leadership contest, I will be seeking an urgent meeting with the incoming Prime Minister, incoming Chancellor and incoming Secretary of State for Transport to discuss this decision and explore whether there is a credible route forward for this vital project.

“I will continue to make the strongest possible case for the investment that both Lincoln and the wider region need and deserve.”

Claire Ward, the Labour Mayor for the East Midlands, said: “The proposal to remove investment from two road schemes in the East Midlands, into the A46 and A38 – is completely unacceptable to me.

“I was informed of this decision as the Prime Minister was delivering his speech on the Defence Investment Plan.

“If Mayors and their regions are to be seen as respected partners of government, we need to be treated like grown-ups and involved in trade-offs which affect our regions.”

Ward said she understood that trade-offs were needed to increase investment in defence, adding: “I understand that everywhere will need to contribute so that we can be safe in a less certain world.

“What I cannot understand is why the only region being asked to lose £900 million of investment into its roads is the East Midlands — that is not equitable and fails to recognise the decades of underinvestment that have preceded today’s decision.”

Starmer told an audience of military chiefs and defence industry figures at an airbase in Berkshire that the DIP “represents our best judgement of what the country needs to meet this moment and it is a platform on which I know my successor will build”.

He admitted that his Government had had to make “necessary trade-offs” in order to fund it but that he refused to cut day-to-day spending on public services or borrow more.

The Prime Minister said: “So the hard truth is that there are no easy answers.”

Starmer said the cuts to roads and energy projects were ones deemed not “immediately vital”.

The cuts to capital budgets to fund the £10.3bn of identified funding include a 1 per cent reduction in investment spending across Whitehall worth £4bn, £2bn from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, up to £700m from Department for Transport roads funding, and £1.1bn from the sale of public land and buildings.

For the outstanding £4.7bn, no departments or programmes have been named. Reeves said the money would come from “finding efficiencies, cancelling or delaying lower priority programmes”, with the details to be set out at the autumn Budget.

A Treasury source suggested that Reeves and Starmer had done Burnham a favour by nailing down the package before he came to office.

According to the DIP, the UK will spend 2.7 per cent of GDP in the financial year 2027-28. Defence insiders insisted it was still on track to increase this to 3.5 per cent by 2035, but a roadmap has not yet been laid out.

Military chiefs wanted Starmer and Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis to spell out how spending would reach 3 per cent by 2030.

However both men said only that the 3 per cent target would be met “in the next parliament”.

Mike Martin, a Lib Dem member of the Defence Select Committee, said: “Without the approval of the next prime minister the Defence Investment Plan is worthless.

“It leaves our Armed Forces in limbo and scares off the investment our defence industry desperately needs. I’m calling on Andy Burnham to commit to funding the entire Defence Investment Plan.”

John Healey, who resigned as defence secretary in protest at the lack of funding for the DIP, said “more needs to be done in the months ahead”.

While he welcomed an additional £1.5bn in money from the Treasury for the plan since his departure, he told the Commons: “Threats are still growing, demands on defence are still rising in this dangerous world, and today’s step means that we will be spending, as a nation, 2.7 per cent of GDP on defence in 2030. The date that Nato now warns we could face a Russian attack.”

Healey called on Jarvis to develop a “clear, credible funding plan that will hit 3 per cent and that will meet our Nato commitment of 3.5 per cent by 2035”.

Former Tory defence secretary Penny Mordaunt said the money was “not enough”.

Jarvis denied that he had given a “hand grenade” to the next chancellor by creating a £4.7bn black hole in the country’s finances.

He told The Cathy Newman Show on Sky News: “I know a bit about hand grenades. It’s not
one of those. It’s the opposite of those.”

“The worst world would have been if we hadn’t sorted this out.”

He also ducked a number of questions about whether Burnham had specifically signed off the cuts to the road budget. He said: “Of course, there have been conversations as part of the process of transition.”

Max Werner, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the decision meant there would be “further impacts on other areas of spending, tax or borrowing on top of those set out in today’s announcements – implying one key early decision for the next prime minister”.