Andy Burnham criticised for 'performative' stance on Keir Starmer's Defence Investment Plan

Andy Burnham has been criticised for his "performative" stance on Labour's Defence Investment Plan, amid a row with Sir Keir Starmer on who should publish it.

Speaking to GB News, Chief Political Commentator at The i Paper Kitty Donaldson argued he and his team should allow the outgoing Prime Minister to "own it" and "draw a line" under the controversy over its delay.

Sir Keir Starmer is determined to press ahead with publishing the long-delayed investment plan despite his resignation.

However, Mr Burnham's allies have told The Telegraph Sir Keir has "no right" to go ahead with it before the Nato summit in Turkey on July 7.

TRENDING

Stories

Videos

Your Say

A Downing Street spokesman said there would be "no new major policies" or spending decisions during the transition to the next Prime Minister.

Discussing the row on GB News, Ms Donaldson said: "I think we've got three weeks of chaos, we've got three weeks of two prime ministers at the same time, as it were.

"And with the Defence Investment Plan, you've got the current Prime Minister saying 'I'm going to fix it'.

"And actually, there are talks going on to find a little bit of extra money for defence before he goes to Ankara for the Nato Summit."

Criticising Mr Burnham's attempt at getting involved in the publishing of the plan, she argued: "And then you've got Andy Burnham saying, oh no, I want to be the one who signs off on it.

"I suspect it's a little bit performative from Andy Burnham's team, because I think actually making the Prime Minister own it and kind of drawing a line under it and then not having to think about it for sort of six months or whatever, would actually be quite helpful to Andy Burnham."

Ms Donaldson stressed that Mr Burnham is also said to be planning to "find lots of money for other things elsewhere".

She told GB News: "Those include investments in transport, like the Bee network, the Manchester buses rolling out across the country.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• 'Doesn't know what a woman is!' Andy Burnham blasted for being hailed as 'Labour's first female PM'
• ‘It's class warfare!’ Kevin Hollinrake backs Kemi Badenoch’s Bridget Phillipson barb after PMQs row
• 'Burnham bounce' slashes Reform's poll lead as Labour surges by 6%

"He also wants to take Thames Water into public ownership and also electricity, and the idea and the idea behind this is you make things cheaper for people every day. But of course there's huge upfront costs."

Ms Donaldson revealed that having spoken to economists around Mr Burnham, they have warned that his plans are "more complicated" to implement.

She said: "I've spoken to economists around Andy Burnham who say, actually, it's a little bit more complicated than that because what you end up doing is you swap bonds for shares, so the taxpayer, doesn't end up with nothing.

"Basically, you end up with an asset, and therefore it doesn't cost you and it doesn't affect the fiscal rules, snd so actually borrowing won't go up necessarily."

Ms Donaldson concluded that until Mr Burnham chooses his new Chancellor should he become Prime Minister, the markets will question whether they can "live with" his decision making.

She said: "But we haven't got enough meat on the bone to try and work out whether they're going to borrow for other things too. Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, went in to see Andy Burnham yesterday.

"This seems to be the way to get a meeting with Andy Burnham, you say 'I'm going to stand against you unless you see me', basically. And he came out and he said, 'well, Andy Burnham is thinking about borrowing a little bit more'.

"I think when he decides and lets it be known who he's decided to be his Chancellor, that is when the markets will take a really good look and think, eek or okay, we can live with that."

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter