ANDY Burnham has declared he will not slash Britain’s benefits bill to boost defence .
The PM rejected Kemi Badenoch’s plan to pump an extra £10billion into the Armed Forces and hit three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030.
He said that protecting the country could not come at the expense of welfare after the Tory leader suggested finding £4billion through housing benefit reforms and £3.1billion by restoring the two-child benefit cap.
Mr Burnham said that a housing benefit squeeze would cause levels of homelessness “we wouldn’t have seen before.”
Speaking at PMQs, he said: “Yes, we do everything to support our national security but it can’t come at the expense of social security.
“Having strong national security also also depends upon having resilience in our communities.
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“This side of the House will not be forced to choose between the two, and we will set out a plan to get to 3.5 per cent by 2035 at the spending review.”
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