Andy Burnham is under mounting pressure from Labour MPs to rule out using welfare cuts to fill the £4.7bn black hole in the defence spending plan if, as expected, he becomes prime minister later this month.
Allies of the Makerfield MP have refused to be drawn on how the prospective prime minister plans to plug the gap, but say Mr Burnham is “seething” that Sir Keir Starmer has left him with the multibillion-pound funding gap in the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), describing it as a “poison pill”.
