Kemi Badenoch skewers Keir Starmer within seconds with devastating PMQs question

Kemi Badenoch has launched a scathing attack on Sir Keir Starmer by accusing him of a "total dereliction of duty" over defending spending failures. The Conservative Party leader tore into the Prime Minister during a Commons clash yesterday (WED) for leaving Andy Burnham a “mess”.

She urged the wannabe PM, who was absent from the chamber for the weekly bout, to condemn the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) which has a £5billion blackhole.

Mrs Badenoch told MPs the “plan has unravelled, it is a total dereliction of duty”. She said: “Even the limited plan that he has announced has completely unravelled because he hasn’t found the money to pay for it. It is £5 billion short.

“We all know that he is leaving this mess to his successor. So, can he confirm that the member for Makerfield has agreed to fund the shortfall?”

The DIP will see a £15 billion boost in defence spending, largely funded by cuts to other departments’ capital budgets. But Rachel Reeves’s Treasury has yet to spell out how it will fund almost a third of the increase, leaving £4.7 billion of funding to be set out at the next budget.

Prime Minister's Questions has now ended.

Lee Anderson used his question at Prime Minister's Questions to demand that illegal migrants who arrive in the UK be detained.

He asked about a woman raped by an asylum seeker in his constituency.

But Sir Keir said he’s "very proud" to have brought down immigration levels - and then launches an attack on Farage’s finances

The Prime Minister suggested Mr Anderson needed to ask Reform UK party leader questions over a £5million gift from a cryptocurrency businessman which Nigel Farage did not declare.

Both Sir Keir Starmer and England manager Thomas Tuchel were both lacking a “solid defence plan”, Sir Ed Davey joked in the Commons.

“But with Reece James and Jarell Quansah in doubt, I know the Prime Minister isn’t the only one struggling for a solid defence plan.”

Sir Ed was heckled by an MP by shouting “red card”.

Sir Keir Starmer, who stifled laughter, did stand and give Sir Ed a "red card" during Prime Minister's Questions.

England is playing DR Congo at the World Cup later on Wednesday.

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The outgoing Prime Minister told Kemi Badenoch he had laid the “foundations of a stronger and fairer country” since taking power two years ago this week.

Sir Keir said: “When we came into power public services were on their knees, today we’ve seen the fastest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years. When I became Prime Minister we inherited a broken economy, today we’re outperforming the other G7 economies.

“When I became Prime Minister our international alliances had been shredded. Now other countries are looking to us to lead on defence and security.

“Foundations of a stronger and fairer country, Britain in a better state than we found it, that’s the difference a Labour Government makes.”

Kemi Badenoch said "defence of the realm" is the first duty of government.

She said Britain is facing risks unlike anything previously seen.

She says Labour's plan is too weak, too little and too late.

The Tory leader demanded that Andy Burnham condemn the plan.

She also called for welfare cuts to fund defence.

Mrs Badenoch ended the attack by saying "What is the point of Labour? if they can't defend the country.

But Keir Starmer hit back in a very spirited rebuke and accused the Tories of failing on defence.

He said the Conservatives won't apologise for its approach to defence.

Kemi Badenoch has called the Defence Investment Plan a "dereliction of duty".

There have been intelligence assessment that there could be an attack by Russia on NATO as soon as 2030.

She presses him again on whether Burnham knew he would have to find £5billion to fund the plan.

Sir Keir does not confirm this. Reports have suggested Burnham only find out about the shortfall on Tuesday morning.

Kemi Badenoch has accused Sir Keir of "leaving this mess to his successor", referring to Andy Burnham.

She asked him whether he had known about the £5 billion shortfall in the Defence Investment Plan and agreed to fund it.

The Labour leader did not confirm this while clashing with Mrs Badenoch across the Despatch Box in the Commons.

Kemi Badenoch has fired her fury at the Prime Minister over his defence funding failures.

She attacked the outgoing PM for raising defence spending by just £15billionn when military chiefs wanted £28billion in extra cash.

He says the "Kremlin can count" and his plan doesn't add up.

She quizzes him on how the funding boost could be enough.

Sir Keir hits back rattling off a list of people who welcomed the plan and then accuses the Tories of cutting defence spending and hollowing out funds.

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted his defence budget will help to keep Britain safe.

The Prime Minister said: “In an increasingly dangerous and volatile world, our defence investment plan commits more to investment on our Armed Forces.

“It delivers the modern kit and capabilities our personnel need to keep us safe, meaning we buy British to create jobs here at home and strengthen our international leadership.”

Rachel Reeves is sitting next to Lucy Powell. It doesn't look like Andy Burnham is in the Commons.

The UK Government will match public donations to the Disaster Emergency Committee’s appeal to provide humanitarian aid to Venezuela up to £2 million.

This is in addition to the £2 million of initial humanitarian funding support from the UK Government to help Venezuela in the aftermath of two earthquakes last week.

The earthquakes struck the South American country in quick succession last Wednesday causing significant loss of life and severe damage to homes and infrastructure.

Speaking at the start of Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer said: “Our thoughts, and I’m sure the thoughts of the whole House, are with the people of Venezuela.

“The scenes of destruction are simply harrowing.

“We’ve committed humanitarian funding, deployed expert search and rescue teams, and I can announce today that we’ll match public donations up to £2 million on aid.”

Sir Keir Starmer has been pictured leaving 10 Downing Street ahead of PMQs.

Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis said there would have to be “conversations” with the next prime minister about funding the armed forces, but insisted it was “not unreasonable” to set out those plans at a “major fiscal event”.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to missile manufacturer Cambridge Aerospace, Mr Jarvis said: “I think we made really good progress yesterday with the publication of the plan, and that was helpful because it ended the uncertainty that had been around it.

“But yes, I will want to do more and go further, and it’s my job, working with the chiefs, to make sure that we secure the resource, the investment that we need into defence to honor the commitments that we have made, which I am absolutely determined that we will keep.

“I think, though, it is not unreasonable to accept the basic point that when you are committing billions and billions of pounds of investment, that in the normal order of business those kind of commitments are made in the context of a major fiscal event.

“There will be a spending review next year. I will be making the case for defence. I’m sure that that is a case that will be supported very closely by the Chiefs.

“Obviously, there will be conversations that will have to be taking place with the person who’s going to be the next prime minister, but fundamentally, my job is to fight hard for defence.

“That’s what I’ve done for the past two weeks, and that’s what I intend to keep doing.”

The Defence Secretary said he had “assurance” that Andy Burnham would ensure investment in defence.

During a visit to Cambridge Aerospace, Dan Jarvis told reporters: “I absolutely have the assurance that, as prime minister, Andy Burnham will make sure that we’ve got the investment coming into defence.

“That is good for our nation, good for our national security, but it’s also good for economic prosperity and its companies and workers in this part of the country that I think will benefit very well from the new investment that we’ve announced.”

Here are the MPs set to get questions at PMQs.

Reform UK's Lee Anderson and Carla Lockhart MP are also on the list.

Reform UK's Robert Jenrick took to X to urge Kemi Badenoch to use PMQs to call for a general election.

The Tory leader has previously said Andy Burnham should go to the country if he cannot find the money to properly fund defence.

Kemi Badenoch said there should be an election if Andy Burnham doesn\u2019t fund defence properly.

Yesterday Burnham\u2019s spokesperson said the matter is now \u2018settled\u2019. It clearly isn\u2019t - there\u2019s still a massive hole in the Defence budget.

Will the Tories call for an election today?

Labour is up three points in the latest polling by More in Common as Andy Burnham looks set to enter 10 Downing Street within weeks.

Reform UK is in the lead with 28%, while Labour is second on 24% and the Tories are third with 20%.

Labour bump up 3 this week their highest share in almost a year narrowing Reform\u2019s lead to 4, while the Tories drop back 2.

\u27a1\ufe0f REF UK 28% (nc)\u2070\ud83c\udf39 LAB 24% (+3)\u2070\ud83c\udf33CON 20% (-2)\u2070\ud83d\udd36 LIB DEM 12% (nc)\u2070\ud83c\udf0d GREEN 10% (nc)\u2070\ud83d\udfe1 SNP 2% (-1)

N = 2,852 | 26-28/6 | Changes w/ 22/6 pic.twitter.com/cGCDlFAh1M

Green entrepreneur Dale Vince, who is a Labour donor, has said Ed Miliband is "not the right choice" for Andy Burnham's chancellor.

Ed Miliband "is not the right choice" for chancellor says @DaleVince

The founder of Ecotricity and Labour donor tells Mornings this is because of his time in the Department for Energy Security, where he "didn\u2019t make business-like decisions" pic.twitter.com/zqAWIPaHHd

Andy Burnham only found out about the £4.7 billion hole in the plan to boost defence spending on the day it was published, the armed forces minister has suggested.

Minister Luke Pollard told Sky News: “Downing Street have a close dialogue with Andy’s team … I understand they’ve been keeping him close to the process, and told him yesterday when the Treasury published the statement and the breakdown of the financial costs.”

He said he only saw the breakdown from the Treasury himself when the defence investment plan was published on Tuesday.

“So I saw the breakdown of the £15 billion for the first time yesterday when it was published by the Treasury, I understand that Downing Street are keeping Andy’s team involved with the process.”

Armed forces minister Luke Pollard has defended the £4.7 billion black hole in the plan to raise defence spending as “not unusual”.

The gap will need to be plugged by the next prime minister, likely Andy Burnham, in the autumn budget.

Mr Pollard told Times Radio: “The £15 billion extra spending power that we now have with the Treasury set out how £10 billion or so of that will be spent by asking other departments to cut their capital funding by 1p in the pound and transfer that money to defence.

“£4.7 billion will be set out at the autumn budget, and that’s not unusual for governments to do.”

Just 23% of Britons expect Andy Burnham to govern in the interests of the whole country, according to new polling.

The YouGov survey found 27% believe the former Greater Manchester mayor will be governing mainly in the interests of regions like the North.

Some 4% said he would govern mainly in the interests of regions like London and the South East.

Meanwhile, 11% said "something else" and 36% said "don't know" in the poll of 4,473 people carried out yesterday.

Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis sidestepped repeated questions on whether it had been made clear to Andy Burnham that he was being left with a $4.7 billion black hole in the defence investment plan.

“Of course we’ve been talking to Andy Burnham and his team about this plan,” the new Defence Secretary told BBC Newsnight, pointing to Sir Keir’s focus on a “smooth transition” of power.

“Andy Burnham has an absolute commitment to safeguarding our nation and ensuring that we’ve got the resources in place to defend our nation in the way that we think is necessary.”

\u201cDoes Andy Burnham know he\u2019s got to find \u00a34.7bn in his first budget?\u201d@vicderbyshire presses Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis MP on reports that \u00a34.7 billion is still to be found for the Defence Investment Plan to be fully costed.\u2070\u2070#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/MmChHpBSqO

Andy Burnham is facing a £4.7 billion black hole in the plan to raise defence spending.

Sir Keir Starmer announced £15 billion of spending over the next four years to support the Defence Investment Plan, but the Treasury put off setting out full details of how it would fund the increase.

In a written statement to Parliament, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said only two-thirds of the sum – £10.3 billion – had been identified, while the remaining £4.7 billion would be “confirmed at Budget 2026, in a fair and balanced way”.