BBC Politics
BBC Verify investigates whether a shortfall in funding for the government's defence investment plan is a "black hole".
The Guardian Politics
Prime minister says he will take no lectures from Tories after Kemi Badenoch says investment plan is insufficientUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer was forced on the defensive in the Commons over his long-delayed defence investment plan announced this week, which critics argue leaves his successor as prime minister, expected to be Andy Burnham, with an extra £4.7bn to find in his first budget.Starmer defended his £298bn defence investment plan (Dip) at prime minister’s questions on We
BBC Politics
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says the defence spending plan is '£5bn' short and 'doesn't add up'.
BBC Politics
The Conservative leader says the head of the UK armed forces 'made it known' that the military needed a minimum of £28bn more to defend the country.
BBC Politics
Sir Keir Starmer leaves Downing Street as he heads to the Commons for one of his final Prime Minister's Questions.
BBC Politics
Welsh Labour's Mike Hedges asked Rhun ap Iorwerth about animal welfare in first minister's questions.
BBC Politics
Dan Jarvis says Andy Burnham will back his £15bn defence spending plan if he becomes PM.
BBC Politics
Luke Pollard says the next chancellor "whoever that may be" will have to "find the resources" to fund defence plan.
The Guardian Politics
The likely next prime minister would rather be in Warrington than Washington, but foreign policy will dominate his agenda more than he thinksIf Andy Burnham is lucky, he will get some time to adjust to the pace of life as prime minister before dealing with his first international crisis. It won’t be long.Donald Trump is an engine of constant turmoil. Aftershocks from his recent military adventure in the Middle East will be felt for years. None of the declared war aims were achieved. The Iranian
BBC Politics
The BBC's political editor Chris Mason reflects on the fallout from the Defence Investment Plan.
The Guardian Politics
Track record of Welsh Water shows public ownership is not the answer to all the woes in the utilities sectorGood news for Andy Burnham: one of the original 10 water privatisations from the Thatcher-era has returned to public ownership already. Thanks to a complicated turn-of-the-century corporate saga, Welsh Water, serving 3 million people, converted to not-for-profit status in 2001. It has no shareholders. Financial surpluses go “straight back into keeping bills down and looking after your wate
The Guardian Politics
Nearly 100 academy chief executives earn more than £200,000 a year, and at least one more than £500,000The era of academy school leaders in England receiving “banker-style salaries” and hefty annual increases may soon be over, with the government to introduce limits on executive pay.Nearly 100 academy chief executives earn more than £200,000 a year, with pay in academy trusts equating to anything from less than £5 a pupil to more than £150. Only a quarter of the high-earners were women. Continue
The Guardian Politics
Andy Burnham has set out his economic plans for Britain. Neal Lawson, from the Burnham-aligned group Mainstream, explains the thinking behind itHelen Pidd has been one of Andy Burnham’s constituents for almost a decade now. She says she has seen Greater Manchester thrive on his watch. Now he wants to do for the rest of the country what he has done for her region. On Monday Burnham stood up in the People’s History Museum in Manchester and delivered his economic manifesto. Barring some 11th hour c
The Guardian Politics
The £45bn scheme to link cities across north of England with new or upgraded lines has no convincing or properly costed plan, committee saysBuilding Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) risks repeating the failures of HS2 with “no convincing plan” to deliver it within a £45bn budget, an influential committee of MPs has warned.The government announced in January its commitment and funding for the NPR project to connect cities across the north, consisting of new or upgraded lines between Liverpool, Manc
BBC Politics
Keir Starmer announces extra defence spending - but the subject will still be one of the trickiest issues in his successor's in-tray.
The Guardian Politics
Ally of PM-in-waiting says four-year boost for the armed forces is an ‘unexploded bomb’Britain has finally grasped the nettle on defence, but tough choices lie aheadAndy Burnham will have to find an extra £4.7bn for defence in his first budget, after Keir Starmer announced a £298bn defence investment plan (Dip) without having fully identified how it will be funded.Sources close to the Makerfield MP said he would not try to renegotiate the Dip after the outgoing prime minister announced its detai
BBC Politics
Female MPs urge Burnham to ensure Labour lead by example on equality should he become prime minister.
The Guardian Politics
The new PM must balance the security budget and other urgent spending priorities, with little room for manoeuvreKeir Starmer’s defence investment plan leaves behind spending problems that his successor will not be able to avoid.Military budgets will be well short of the UK’s Nato commitments by the end of the decade, and European allies and a combustible White House are likely to notice. Continue reading...
BBC Politics
Money for new buildings to be cut as a result of defence plans, Rhun ap Iorwerth says.
The Guardian Politics
Sir Keir Starmer cuts civilian investment while deepening reliance on American power. That doesn’t feel like national renewalSince Brexit, Daphne du Maurier’s final novel, Rule Britannia, has been seen as a prescient warning about the UK cutting itself adrift from Europe. After joining and then leaving the EU’s predecessor, the Common Market, in a referendum, Du Maurier imagined the UK facing such economic instability that its prime minister submits to a US takeover. Britain is occupied by US fo