Burnham refuses to say he is committed to raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030
Kemi Badenoch says after PMQs last week it was not clear if Burnham would or would not raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. Was John Healey right to resign as defence secretary over this?
Burnham says he appointed Healey because of his commitment to defence. He says the government will honour the commitment to get it to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, and he says he will set out a timetable to get there.
But he says there should be more problem solving, not point scoring, on this.
Key events
Burnham says Israel sanctions are example of Britain ‘showing leadership’
Badenoch says Burnham talks about the last government. But the last government was Keir Starmer’s, and it fails.
She accuses Burnham of being “continuity Keir”.
Burnham replies:
She mentions leadership. Let me tell her and the whole house where Britain is showing leadership.
There have been Conservative politicians at this despatch box, Labour politicians too, for decades, who’ve talked about the importance of the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
Words from any politician about a two-state solution will be only words if it’s not backed with action. And leadership is about taking action.
Where there is injustice, where we need to correct unfairness, people being driven out of their homes, losing their homes, being intimidated in their daily lives, I credit the father of the house [Edward Leigh] who yesterday applauded the action that this government is taking in this difficult and dangerous world.
Britain has to stand for something. Britain has to show leadership. Britain has to stand for fairness against injustice.
Where people are being bullied out of their homes, intimidated, we will always stand with the underdog and take what action we can to support them. That is leadership on the world stage, Britain being true to what it’s always been about.
That is what the British people expect of us, and that is what this government will do.
Burnham urges Tories to work with goverment on fully-funded plan to raise defence spending
Badenoch claims the government will spend £35bn giving away British territory.
Defence funding fell in real terms last year, she says.
She asks why the government is sending money to Mauritius.
Burnham says Badenoch is not on strong ground on defence.
Under the last Tory government, spending on defence fell as a proportion of GDP.
He says it would be better to work across the house to get a “fully and securely funded path” to raise defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035 backed by all sides.
Badenoch turns to the Chagos Islands, and accuses Labour of surrender.
Burnham says Badenoch must do better. He says the UK will not surrender the base at Diego Garcia.
Burnham says Tory plan to cut welfare will increase homelessness and rough sleeping
Badenoch says Burnham’s answer is “unbelievable”. She says he should cut welfare to fund defence.
And she asks if he will approve the Rosebank oil field project.
Burnham goes back to attacking the Tory plans to raise another £10bn for defence.
If you take £4bn out in the next few years, you will make families homeless, you will increase rough sleeping on our streets.
On oil and gas, he says he will be “pragmatic”.
Burnham says strong national security depends on having proper social security too
Badenoch says Burnham was in shadow cabinet with Jeremy Corbyn, who did not back the nuclear deterrent. And so she will not take lectures from him on defence.
He asks if Healey is unable or unwilling to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP.
Burnham says Healey will be willing to fund the defence investment plan.
He says he looked at her plan for defence spending. It involves welfare cuts, and that would lead to a big rise in homelessness, he says.
He says:
We will do everything to support our national security, but it can’t come at the expense of social security. Having strong national security also depends upon having resilience in our communities.
Burnham refuses to say he is committed to raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030
Kemi Badenoch says after PMQs last week it was not clear if Burnham would or would not raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. Was John Healey right to resign as defence secretary over this?
Burnham says he appointed Healey because of his commitment to defence. He says the government will honour the commitment to get it to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, and he says he will set out a timetable to get there.
But he says there should be more problem solving, not point scoring, on this.
Lillian Jones (Lab) says she welcomes the PM’s desire to revive high streets. Hope has been rekindled in Kilmarnock, she says.
Burnham says ‘“it does my heart good” to hear about rising hope in Kilmarnock. No 10 North will serve all constituencies, he says.
Andy Burnham starts PMQs by saying Friday will be the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Almost 3,000 people died, including 67 Britons, he says.
And he says today is the funeral of PC Matthew Blades.
He also says it is Back British Farmers day. Food security is national security, he says.
Polanski accuses chief rabbi of conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has criticised Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, for his comments about the impact of the government’s UK sanctions. He claimed Mirvis was equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
Polanski told reporters:
Actually, ironically, I think this leads to more antisemitism because it blurs the lines from people who should know better.
What I would say to anyone who represents any religion or any group of people is, we need to be really specific with our language, we need to be really clear and sensitive.
I think in a situation like this, where the Israeli government have to be challenged, to conflate a challenge to the Israeli government and a challenge to the settlers and the ethnic cleansing as an attack on British Jews, actually makes me as a Jewish person feel less safe.
I think everyone needs to be sensitive, including myself, about the language we use and how we talk about the situation.
Burnham faces Badenoch at PMQs
Andy Burnham is about to take his second PMQs.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Polanski urges PM to publish full intelligence assessments about risk to UK from climate collapse
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has challenged Andy Burnham to publish the full, secret advice he has had from intelligence agencies about the threat posed to the UK from potential nature collapse.
In a speech at the Wild Summit this morning, Polanski said:
We’ve already seen how fragile our food systems are this year, with farmers warning that we could see empty shelves as a result of drought and flooding, and the government whispering that we should start stocking up on tinned food and bottled water.
Polanski said that a report from the joint intelligence committee said:
Without significant increases in the UK food system and supply chain resilience, it is unlikely the UK would be able to maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drives geopolitical competition for food.
He said another intelligence report, covered by the Times, said Britain’s food and water supply were “almost certain” to be on a “decline and collapse trajectory” – and our food security was at risk of “catastrophic failure.”
Polanski went on:
Today I have a question for our new prime minister. Will you tell the truth – and release the full unredacted report from the joint intelligence chiefs? Or will you keep hiding the truth from the public?
And will you act on the scale of the threat – and introduce a Nature, Biodiversity and National Security Act to put resilience at the heart of government?
This summer we saw our countryside burn and our city parks turn to dust. It was a bleak preview of what is to come if we continue to allow the greed of corporations to come above the survival of our natural world – and all that relies on it.
This must mark a turning point. Where we say no more loss. No more quieting of birdsong, no more steady trickling of sewage and poison into our waters.
There are three Commons statements after PMQs today.
After 12.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, on summer health and resilience.
Around 1.30pm: Lucy Powell, the education secretary, on education skills and reform.
Around 2.30pm: Blair McDougall, the reindustrialisation minister, on the Jaguar Land Rover redundancies.
On Newsnight last night Nicholas Watt, the programme’s political editor, said he had been told by one cabinet minister there was a simple explanation for the Israel sanctions announcement: “We’re doing things which Keir [Starmer] wouldn’t let us do,” the minister said.
Today Watt says the Starmerites are disputing this. He says:
Allies of Sir Keir Starmer are strongly disputing what this cabinet minister told me last night. One Starmer ally tells me that earlier this year the former prime minister asked his aides to chase Foreign Office ministers for “proper advice” on blocking settler trade or imposing sanctions on West Bank settlements.
“He was no blocker,” the Starmer ally told me. They claim that the Foreign Office told them the issue was “complicated” which showed, according to that ally, that they simply “had no plan”.
The ally tells me: “There’s just a lot of rewriting of history going on.”
