Senior No 10 aides to lobby Andy Burnham to invest more than £13.5bn defence spend

Downing Street aides are planning to lobby Andy Burnham during access talks to revive the idea of “war bonds” to pay for higher defence spending when he becomes prime minister, the Guardian understands. Senior No 10 figures want the Treasury to be allowed to borrow more for military spending and will try to convince Burnham to invest beyond the £13.5bn earmarked for the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (Dip). Defence aides are also understood to have travelled to Makerfield during the byelection campaign to bring Burnham’s team up to speed on the state of the UK’s depleted defence capabilities. Although Burnham is now expected to enter Downing Street with the Dip already signed off, he will still come under heavy pressure from military leaders and others within the government to increase defence spending in the long term. Keir Starmer confirmed on Wednesday he would announce the Dip before the Nato summit in Ankara on 7 and 8 July even though he leaves the following week, with No 10 arguing that while it is a big spending commitment, it is an existing one. But he has faced criticism from some Labour MPs for pressing ahead with such an important policy issue, rather than leaving it to his likely successor who has told them he wants to give the Ministry of Defence (MoD) more than the £13.5bn on offer. …