Overview
- At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday Andy Burnham refused to give a firm timetable for reaching 3% of GDP on defence and rejected Conservative proposals to pay for any uplift by cutting social security.
- The Conservatives have published a costed plan that would reclaim about £4 billion a year by changing housing benefit and roughly £3.1 billion by reimposing the two‑child benefit cap.
- Downing Street said the government is committed to reducing the welfare bill but will not pursue “crude cuts” that risk pushing people into crisis and creating higher costs elsewhere.
- Burnham warned that taking £4 billion from housing benefit would risk mass homelessness and force hundreds of thousands of children into temporary accommodation, arguing community resilience matters to national security.
- Officials project defence at about 2.7% of GDP in the near term with a NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035, leaving ministers to find roughly £10–15 billion over coming years and creating a political fight over spending priorities and social consequences.