No 10 says Starmer ‘will not walk away’ if Burnham officially enters Labour leadership contest - UK politics live

Downing Street responded after Andy Burnham publicly admitted that he would consider launching a bid to become Labour leader ‘I wouldn’t flinch’: Burnham on social care, markets, Brexit – and the prospect of a general election Commenting further on the defence investment plan, Starmer highlighted the urgency of boosting defence due to the threat of a Russian attack against Nato. He said: If you needed any reminder about the importance of this, it is our intelligence assessment, and the assessment of other countries in Nato, that there could be an attack by Russia on Nato as soon as 2030.

So you can see the urgency and the priority that we’re putting behind this. We’ve been working on that defence investment plan for some time, very closely with our armed forces, as you would expect, because we need that interaction. What is the capability that you most need, in what time period, with the MoD and actually across government, because this is a cross-government priority. Continue reading...