A nearly £4.7B shortfall in the Defence Investment Plan remains unresolved after Keir Starmer refused to say whether Andy Burnham has agreed to cover it, leaving the decision to the autumn Budget when Burnham is likely to be prime minister.The package commits roughly £298B over four years, requires the Ministry of Defence to find £10.7B in efficiency savings and relies on unspecified departmental cuts that critics say still will not reach NATO's 3.5% of GDP target by 2035 and may force tax increases or service reductions.The gap has prompted the resignation of
John Healey from his defence role, criticism from Conservative MPs including
Kemi Badenoch and former defence secretary
Liam Fox, and questions about political accountability as the
Labour leadership prepares to hand over.