๐จ NEW: A Treasury source attacks John Healey for resigning as Defence Secretary
"Let's be clear on what John is asking for: cuts to schools and hospitals"
h/t @e_casalicchio
Labour's own people are telling you everything you need to know.
Wes Streeting: Reeves has no plan for growth.
Pat McFadden: all Labour want to do is tax more to pay more benefits.
John Healey: Starmer won't fund our armed forces.
Jess Phillips: PM only acted to protect women
10-6-26 - PMQs - about Defence:
Kemi: "Will that requirement be met in full?"
Starmer: "We are not going to take lectures on defence from the Opposition after what they did to the armed forces"
11-6-26 - Labour Defence Secretary resigns over...Defence.
Wow.
Not withstanding the pretty woeful events of the past few months, John Healey was comfortably one of the most capable and credible members of the Labour front bench. His resignation is an indictment of a weak Prime Minister and an incompetent Treasury.
NEW: Inside John Healey's resignation talks
Healey told Starmer that an increase of just 0.08 per cent of GDP to defence would not keep the country safe.
Starmer offered ยฃ13.5bn on defence, of which just ยฃ10bn was new money from the Treasury. He also refused to commit to
๐จ NEW: Armed Forces Minister Al Carns has called out Keir Starmer after John Healey's resignation
"He's got to sort it out... the Defence Investment Plan is not fit for purpose"
It is implausible & wrongheaded to be even raising the spectre of funding this type of stuff given the fiscal situation.
We spent ยฃ300 billion in Covid, & ยฃ40 billion on energy bill support (Labour were calling for us to spend more!), national debt as a share of GDP went up
NEW: Andy Burnham has hinted at a new multibillion-pound spending commitment if he becomes PM, saying that more than 3.5mn women โdeserveโ compensation over what he regards as a pension scandal
Earlier I attended a Makerfield hustings event hosted by @MENnewsdesk, in which
Starmer and Reeves are too weak to cut welfare.
So theyโre talking about cutting transport infrastructure to fund defence.
This would be economically stupid - and the mother of all u-turns.
Some people have said Braverman and Jenrick resigned over immigration failures. But neither of them resigned over the measures that facilitated the fast-tracking of the alleged Belfast attacker. They publicly advocated for the fast track-system, oversaw it and implanted it.
Some people have said Braverman and Jenrick resigned over immigration failures. But neither of them resigned over the measures that facilitated the fast-tracking of the alleged Belfast attacker. They publicly advocated for the fast track-system, oversaw it and implanted it.
There was a moment backstage, before I interviewed Kemi Badenoch for a Spectator event this week, when I felt like John Sergeant with Margaret Thatcher bearing down on him as he pronounced her leadership in difficulty.
I suggested to Badenoch that she was a rare example of a