Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis has said he is confident that Andy Burnham will provide the necessary investment for Britain's armed forces, despite leaving the next prime minister a £4.7 billion funding gap. Speaking to reporters during a visit to missile manufacturer Cambridge Aerospace on Wednesday, Jarvis stated he had the "assurance that, as prime minister, Andy Burnham will make sure that we've got the investment coming into defence." However, he acknowledged that there would need to be "conversations" with Burnham, who is expected to take over from Sir Keir Starmer in less than three weeks, and vowed to "fight hard for defence."
Defence Investment Plan details
Tuesday's Defence Investment Plan (Dip) saw Jarvis secure a £15 billion uplift in defence spending, largely funded by cuts to other departments' capital budgets. However, the Treasury has yet to outline how it will fund almost a third of the increase, leaving £4.7 billion of funding to be confirmed at the next budget. This decision presents a potential challenge for Burnham in his first budget, as he faces a choice between higher taxes, more borrowing, or further spending cuts to bridge the gap.
Jarvis defended the decision to defer some funding decisions to the budget, describing it as "not unreasonable" that "those kind of commitments are made in the context of a major fiscal event." When asked about the source of the additional funds, he deferred to the Treasury, stating, "My job is about securing more money for defence."
Timing of Burnham's briefing questioned
Defence minister Luke Pollard suggested that Burnham only learned of the £4.7 billion gap when the Treasury figures were published on Tuesday. 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." However, he later declined to answer questions about when Burnham had been informed of the financial details, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was "not involved with those conversations."
The long-delayed plan to fund the armed forces was published on Tuesday, including the £15 billion boost to spending. In a written statement to Parliament, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that 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." Downing Street insisted the plan was "credible" but declined to "get ahead of" the next budget on questions of how the £4.7 billion would be funded.
Denials of a 'hand grenade'
Prospective prime minister Burnham was briefed on the Dip before its publication, but it is understood he was not told about the need to find an additional tranche of funding in his first budget. Jarvis denied that the funding gap was a "hand grenade" for the Makerfield MP—Sir Keir's likely successor—and his new chancellor, insisting it was "absolutely the opposite." He sidestepped repeated questions about whether it had been made clear to Burnham that he was being left with a funding gap, telling BBC Newsnight: "Of course we've been talking to Andy Burnham and his team about this plan," and pointing to Sir Keir's focus on a "smooth transition" of power.
Reeves said the Treasury would focus on finding "efficiencies" and cancelling or delaying "lower priority programmes," while emphasising that the Government would not cut day-to-day spending to pay for defence. Transport and energy budgets will face larger cuts than other departments, but Downing Street was unable to specify which projects would be scrapped or scaled back to pay for increased defence spending.
Details of cuts and investments
When asked if there was a list of projects that would be cut, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said details would be provided "by the autumn." The spokesman also declined to rule out cuts to some hospital building programmes, but said plans to remove dangerous Raac concrete from hospitals and the first wave of the Government's New Hospitals Programme would proceed. The plans include billions more for the next generation of stealth jets, the largest ever investment in drone warfare, and confirmation that the UK will buy F-35A planes capable of carrying nuclear bombs. However, older equipment, including two Type 23 frigates and older Chinook and Wildcat helicopters, will be retired.
The Dip was originally due to be published last year but was delayed in part due to bitter Whitehall wrangling over money. The funding in the Dip comes on top of the £270 billion already promised for defence from 2025/26 to 2028/29.
