Andy Burnham has insisted he won’t raise defence spending at the “expense of social security”, in the latest indication that he won’t cut the welfare bill to boost national security.
The prime minister hit back at Tory plans to fund defence on Wednesday, as he was grilled on his commitment to reach the target of spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030.
In response to Kemi Badenoch telling him there were “serious threats to national security that cannot wait”, Mr Burnham warned the Conservatives’ plan to fund defence by cutting housing benefits would create mass homelessness.
“I don’t think myself that taking £4 billion out of housing benefit is going to get the right consensus around this issue, because that would create levels of homelessness in this country that we wouldn’t have seen before – hundreds of thousands of children in temporary accommodation,” Mr Burnham said.
“We 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.
He also insisted the government would honour Nato commitments to reach 3.5 per cent by 2035, with a target for 3% funding set out in the spending review.
The Tories set out their plans to fund defence last week, with some £4bn coming from a reformed housing benefit, and a further £3.1 billion through reimposing the two-child benefit cap.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch replied: “It’s unbelievable that the prime minister would say that. He’s clearly unwilling. We need to fund our defence, not spend all of our money on welfare.”
Mrs Badenoch also accused the government of being prepared to pay £35 billion to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but not spend money on troops.
She said: “Last year, defence funding fell in real terms. That is on them.
“To govern is to choose. So why is he choosing to send £35 billion to Mauritius when they (Labour) cut the money to train our troops?”
Mr Burnham responded: “I don’t think she’s on strong ground when it comes to defence spending.
“It was 2.5 per cent of GDP when the last Labour government left office. It was 2.3 per cent of GDP when the government she was in left office. It’s now set to be 2.7 per cent in the next year. So that is the reality of the situation.
“It would be better to work across the floor of this House to get a fully and securely funded path to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035.”
Downing Street insisted Mr Burnham was committed to bringing down the welfare bill, but not through “crude cuts”.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “He has said before, we’ve got to get serious as a country about getting the welfare bill down.”
But “that doesn’t mean crude cuts that simply push people into crisis and create bigger costs elsewhere”.
A spokesman for Mrs Badenoch hit back at the prime minister’s claim that Tory plans to cut welfare in order to pay for defence lacked detail and would cause mass homelessness.
He added: “We’ve only taken £4 billion from housing benefit. That comes from resetting the local housing allowance, exempting pensioners, and allowing tenancies to reach their conclusion.
“All that would do is require people to move out of the highest priced areas, which I imagine most people in this room have had to do at some point in their lives. All we are asking is that people on benefits have to make the same choices as everyone else.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies