UK’s likely next PM Andy Burnham faces defence funding gap

Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis is facing questions over the funding gap and whether Burnham was blindsided,Andy Burnham will have to find an additional 4.7 billion pounds ($6.2bn) to close a defence funding gap if, as is widely expected, he becomes the United Kingdom’s prime minister later this month.Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday announced a long-delayed defence plan aimed at making the UK’s depleted armed forces war-ready amid ⁠rising security threats and warnings that Russia could attack a NATO member as soon as 2030.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Burnham pledges devolution and discipline if he becomes UK prime ministerlist 2 of 4The next British PM should steer clear of Starmer’s shameful legacylist 3 of 4UK’s Starmer announces 300-billion-pound defence investment planlist 4 of 4Will Andy Burnham mark a shift in the UK’s Gaza policy?end of listHowever, the plan’s commitment to spend an additional 15 billion pounds ($19.9bn) came under scrutiny within hours of its release after accompanying documents showed that almost a third of the funding still needed to be found in a budget later this ‌year.Burnham only found out about the funding hole on the day it was published, Minister of Defence Procurement Luke Pollard said on Wednesday.“It’s not unusual for governments to make announcements saying this is what we’ll spend, and then to complete the details of that at the next budget,” Pollard told Sky News.Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis is facing questions over the funding gap and whether Burnham was blindsided by the need to plug it in his first budget.Jarvis sidestepped repeated questions about whether it had been made clear to Burnham that he was being left with a funding gap.“Of course, we’ve been talking to Andy Burnham and his team about this plan,” Jarvis told BBC Newsnight, pointing to Starmer’s focus on a “smooth transition” of power.Burnham is widely expected to become the UK’s prime minister later in July.