Sir Keir Starmer confirmed on Wednesday that he would announce the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) before the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, on the 7^th and 8^th of July. A Downing Street spokesperson said there will be no new “major policies” or spending decisions during the transition. However, they have defended the decision to push the DIP, arguing that while it is a big spending commitment, it is an existing one.  

Labour MPs are criticising Starmer for seeing through a decade-defining policy issue rather than leaving it to his likely successor, MP for Makerfield, Andy Burnham. Burnham has said that he wants to give the Ministry of Defence (MoD) more than the £13.5 billion on offer.  

It is understood that defence aides travelled to Makerfield during the by-election campaign to bring Burnham and his team up to speed on the state of the UK’s defence. Burnham’s allies have said that, if the row over defence spending has been resolved by the time he takes over, then he will move on. However, his team are reserving the right to reopen DIP if that is not the case. Nevertheless, Burnham will still come under significant pressure from military leaders to increase defence spending in the long term.  

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the plan would “involve more money, spent more effectively and meet the scale of the challenges we face”. This comes after …