Chris Mason: The crunching trade-offs and big numbers Burnham may soon confront

If, as expected, Andy Burnham becomes prime minister next month, he will inherit a £4.7bn bill to deliver the Defence Investment Plan, or DIP, and that is before he worries about how to boost defence spending further as the next general election looms. The numbers accompanying the much delayed plan point to a big gap that the current government anticipates the next one will need to fill this autumn. Already, the sharp trade-offs to get the DIP out of the door have provoked a backlash, including from a serving minister, Hamish Falconer, who went public about his frustration at the uncertainty that now swirls around a road widening project for the A46 Newark bypass near his constituency of Lincoln. Finding the thick edge of another £5bn from existing budgets could prompt plenty more backbench gnashing of teeth. Sir Keir Starmer was in a reflective mood as he took public ownership of the unveiling of the DIP. He was keeping a promise to have it published before the Nato summit in Ankara in Turkey next week, his last scheduled set-piece foreign event as prime minister. Heading there without it would have heaped further embarrassment on a man already en route to the fire exit of leadership. But in getting a deal his new Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis was willing to put his name to he has also spared Burnham from having to front up its publication himself, potentially in just a few weeks time. …